You might recall the sweet Hall family who were the winners of our Unfrozen Winter contest earlier this year. Check out their adorable snowman submission!
Peachtree Service Experts sent the family on a Disney Cruise and paid for airfare for four. Bradley and Rebecca took their two oldest children, Korbin and Brooke, on their Disney Cruise during mid-summer. Korbin and Brooke had never been on a cruise before and Rebecca and Bradley hadn’t been in about 10 years.
“I can’t begin to describe the amount of fun we had and how seriously incredible everything was,” wrote Rebecca. “It was a trip we could have never made happen on our own. Disney does cruising right!”
The Hall parents were nice enough to give us their itinerary and some snapshots from their incredible trip. If you want to a Disney Cruise, or just curious what it’s all about, keeping reading for the highlights from the Hall’s vacation.
Monday
We were on the ship for 2 days (Saturday and Sunday) and then landed in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. We reserved a Catamaran and went out with a few other families all day. It was my kids’ first time snorkeling and they were in heaven. We got to see turtles and stingrays – it may have been the best experience of the entire trip!
Tuesday
We went from Tortola to St. Thomas in the American Virgin Islands, where we got to do more snorkeling, got to swim, and hung out on the beach. The water was really that turquoise blue that you see in movies – truly incredible.
Thursday
We sailed all day Wednesday and then got off at Castaway Cay, Disney’s Cruise Line Guest-Only Island. The water was so blue and had amazing visibility underneath, so of course we had to do more snorkeling! They had hidden 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+ beach which we took advantage of while our children played with other kids. The island had employees everywhere to help take care of the kids so we (Bradley and Rebecca) relaxed and drank a daiquiri. It was just like a floating Disneyland!
Aboard
I (Rebecca) get goosebumps thinking about everything on the ship – everything was so much fun and unforgettable! Disney Cruise Line has a “Midship Detective Agency” where you select the mystery you want to solve and they give you a card so you can record all your clues. When you place the card up to a painting, it actually comes to life – it speaks to the group, tells you about the mystery you are solving, and gives you clues and directions. One mystery took us two hours because we were going all over the boat.
They are continually playing first-run movies out near the pool so we got to see Big Friendly Giant, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Jungle Book, and Finding Dory. 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 they also have games like foosball, basketball, and a Tween Club called Edge with events like scavenger hunts, get to you know you games, and more.
It’s so easy to see characters on the cruise – you only have to wait three or four minutes versus a half-hour or more at Disneyland. We saw about two each day, and one day we hit five in a row! They also have multiple versions of the characters, including Captain Mickey, Traditional Mickey, etc.
The stateroom was amazing! Ours came with an ocean view room with a large porthole and window seat. The room was a really good size and all four of us were comfy and never felt squished.
Dining
You go between three restaurants. Enchanted Garden has awesome flower lights on the ceiling that open and close and the ceiling changes colors throughout your meal and Royal Court was extremely elegant and put me in mind of Cinderella. The meals are very gourmet and they have a great medley. Korbin tried everything, even escargot at the Royal Court. (He said it tasted like dirt!)
Animators Palette is animation-themed and they give you markers on your table so you can sketch a figure. They offer instructions on how to draw a figure, then they pick up the drawings and at the end of your meal, they animate your drawings on big screens. It’s completely unexpected! They put them to music and position them in Disney clips. Brooke is our artist so she worked really hard on hers and was ecstatic – the rest of us weren’t quite as talented
“We can't thank Service Experts enough for this incredible experience,” Rebecca wrote after they returned home. “I get teary-eyed when I think about it all. Entering a contest I never thought would go anywhere, learning we were a finalist, the nail-biting voting round, the big win, researching and choosing which cruise, the excitement of going and finally experiencing an amazing trip. It was such a fun time living it all. We are forever grateful!”
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