Last Christmas, the kids found out we were going on a Disney Cruise on the Fantasy ship. Needless to say, we have been excited for this vacation for a LONG time!
The devastation caused by Hurricane Irma is horrible. My heart goes out to those who lost loved ones, their homes, and their businesses. We are still praying for their recovery. Our cruise was originally supposed to go to St. John and Tortola, but that obviously had to be changed. Our new itinerary took us to Cozumel Mexico, Grand Cayman Bahamas, Falmouth Jamaica, and Castaway Cay (Disney's Island). I had never been to these destinations so was still pretty pumped!
September 23rd: Arrival Day
Since we were nearing October, the ship was decked out for Halloween! It was really cool to see the pumpkins everywhere! This tree changed a little each day ("grew" pumpkins, got taller, etc).
I decorated our door with the same magnets I made from our Disney Cruise in 2015. This made finding our room so much easier!
Upon arrival, we checked out the kids club. They kids got to converse with BB8.
We have to start the trip off with soft serve ice cream! It's a daily occurrence on the ship :)
They do a big show when the ship sets sail! Seth and I celebrated with the daily drink!
The first night was ROCKY. You could really feel the movement of the ocean and the waves were rough! James was not feeling so hot (he never got sick). I took him back to the room after he was clearly not feeling like dinner, put him to bed early, and thankfully we never had another issue.
September 24th: Day at Sea
We met Anna and Elsa
Played some putt putt
Cartwheel Queen
Adelyn met Tiana on the way to dinner
Our awesome waiter quickly figured out Adelyn liked cherries. Every night he would bring her a big bowl of cherries. :)
Yi, yi, yi! I can picture James in his college years already. He looks like a little frat boy with his toasting boat drink and collared shirt!
Our friends, the Duffs, were also on the trip! Every night we would go see the shows. Donovan and James are best buds from Pre K.
September 25th: Cozumel
These two are ready to go on our excursion to Playa Mia (a resort)
This inflatable playground was super fun! It was my favorite thing there
There was a nice pool and this kid play area
A crazy storm hit. We grabbed lunch and sought shelter.
Pretty soon after, we were back in the pool and hit the water slides. I loved these curved tiled "seats" in the shallow area of the pool.
We are ready to get back on the board the ship!
Adelyn wants a doll from every country. This is her doll she got in Mexico
Our family dressed as Star Wars characters for the Halloween Party! After dinner there was a character show and trick or treating!
September 26th: Grand Cayman
Our original plan was to take a cab to Seven Mile Beach. However, the weather looked iffy and you had to take a tender boat to get to the island, so we just decided to stay on the ship and enjoy it while most people were off of it.
We typically grabbed lunch at the quick serve places near the pool. These kids loved having pizza, hot dogs, and hamburgers every day! They also had salads, wraps, and fresh fruit.
James said he's full
Mickey water slide
James and Donovan
We took the kids to the Oceaneer Lab (kids club) for some slime fun!
Then we met the princesses
Adelyn always thinks Belle's dress is so soft. She rubbed it this time too!
Captain Hook
Seth and I dropped the kids off at the kids club and enjoyed the adult only pool
Love time with my man! (even if I did end up taking a little nap on the lounge chair)
We met Goofy before dinner
This was our 2nd night dining at Animator's Palate. As soon as we sat down, each guest was asked to color the figure on a sheet of paper
James did a green ninja
While we ate, there was some magic happening behind the scenes! They made everyone's characters into an animated slideshow. There's mine!
There's James's
Adelyn's is on the far left with the star necklace. The characters danced to music and it was on large screens all over the restaurant. It was so cool! (Sorry, Seth....I never saw yours!)
After dinner, the kids traded pins with the captains. They thought this was pretty neat!
September 27th: Falmouth, Jamaica
We didn't see much of Jamaica. You could walk off the ship and visit the junk shops. Again, Adelyn got a doll (this one is reversible) and James chose a sword that says Jamaica on it.
We did the Mystery Hunt two times on the trip. This was so neat! See the framed screen? Normally it looks like a regular framed picture. However, when you stand on the metal circle on the floor and hold up the mystery hunt card (with a QRC code on it), it activates the screen. The screen shows a quick clip with a clue to solve the mystery (think Guess Who? and the kids are eliminating suspects). There's also an interactive part where the kids had to toss cans off a shelf or pop balloons to figure out the clue). The screens were located on all ends and floors of the ship, so it was a great way to tour The Fantasy!
Pirate night!
Aargh!
This little pirate lost a tooth!
And this little pirate said he wanted to sit in my lap.... and then he went right to sleep.
Mickey's Pirate Party had to be moved indoors (and fireworks cancelled) due to rain. :( Donovan and James had a blast! Our whole family went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3D after that (it was a late night).
Reason # 5,693 I love Disney. Tooth Fairy: check
September 28th: Day at Sea
This may have been my favorite day. We wanted good pool seats, so we ate our breakfast in them and basically stayed there ALL.DAY.LONG. The weather was fantastic and we all had a blast!
The Duffs brought another couple with them. This family had 2 girls (and one was a 3rd grader). They all got along great! I took the girls to play putt putt.
James had ice ream a couple times this day!
Spoiled! Poolside lunch rocks!
Sydney and Adelyn on the AquaDuck
After showers, we took the kids to see Micky Mouse. We were taking them to the kids club after this and Adelyn insisted on changing out of her Micky Mouse shirt. Someone is growing up! :(
We did the adult dining at Remi. They brought us these fun before dinner drinks. This meal was amazing. It was 6 small courses. We ordered one of the French and one of the American and then split them both to get a wide variety of delicious foods.
Cheers to my love!
September 29th: Castaway Cay
Adelyn said she wanted to do the 5k with us. And then James insisted on doing it as well. That was a mistake. He whined the entire time, and it started in the first minute. We knew that we would be doing more walking than running, but didn't know we would be dragging a kid too. I wish we had just taken him to the kids club because it really made the 5k NOT FUN for us all. Just being real!
The kids with Goofy after the race
After the 5k, we went back to the ship to rinse off and eat breakfast. This is what the sky looked like! Uh oh!
But it quickly cleared and turned into a beautiful day. We went to enjoy the beautiful water and sun!
They had a ropes course that Adelyn absolutely loved
Yummy lunch! :)
After lunch, James was still on this whining kick (this had been a theme of the trip) and we were quite tired of it. We took him to the kids club and only Adelyn, Seth, and I went to the pirate water slides. It was hard not having us all together, but we definitely saw a change in behavior after this.
Hammock swinging!
Love this girl!
After this, we took Adelyn to the kids club and the two of us hung out in this hammock. We enjoyed ice cream, a book, and then we both took a short nap! :)
James went on the verandah when we returned to the ship and promptly took a nap
That night we dined at the other adult restaurant, Palo. It was another delicious meal!
The other families got to the theater early and saved the small balcony section for our group! It was SO, SO neat to sit up there! This is Karen and I after the show
Since this was our last night, we sent the kids back to the kids' club and checked out this really neat bar. It had web cams of big cities all over the world on big screens and drinks from all over the world too. It was a fun way to end the evening.
September 30th: D-Day (go home)
See ya real soon! Gosh, I hope so!
We were all pretty sad the trip was over! This is the one family vacation that I'm not exhausted when it's over. We made countless memories. We unplug and just enjoy each other's company without an agenda or schedule. There's no cleaning and no cooking. We see neat places and all get to be a kid!
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