Docking the Disney Dream... For Now

I've sufficiently shoved the Disney Cruise Line down your throat, so I shall end it now with a final wrap up post. At least I think it is the last one. Who knows. Don't hold me to it.

Things I Loved and Learned on our Disney Cruise is the main topic for today!

I did A LOT of homework before our cruise. I'm so glad I did. I went in very prepared and we didn't have moments of panic because we were missing anything important. But still, without having actually cruised I was eager to get on the ship, experience it and see what new things I could take away from it. So here we go, in no particular order at all!

Things I Disliked:   *this section intentionally left blank*

Things I Loved:

• Walking onto the ship, hearing our name called out and all of the Cast Members welcoming us.
  
  
  
• The smell. It ALWAYS smelled good.  Everywhere. All the time. Especially in the atrium! The gingerbread house smelled so delicious, and it was subtle enough to just waft through and not overpower anything. So yummy! 
  
  
  
• Shopping! I learned during our first night that while there are multiple shops on Deck 3 you do NOT have to pay in each shop for what you want. Let's say you want a shirt in one, some toys in another, and that pretty bracelet in a third... you can just carry your purchases from store to store and pay all at once, which then makes it easy to buy your "gift with purchase purchase"!
  
  
• The cleanliness. I can't recall any moment where I thought something seemed dirty or saw trash laying around. Even at the bars we passed I never saw dirty napkins left behind or empty glasses. It just seemed like it was always impeccable. Even at the morning buffet with all of the people there trying to load up their plates with Mickey waffles and syrup, never did I see any food left anywhere!
  
  
• Being cash free. Yeah, you pay for your adult beverages and merchandise purchases, but you NEVER carry around money. The only time you need it is for room service to be nice and give the person delivering your snacks a tip. That's it. We had our IDs and money all tucked away, only getting it out when we got off the ship in Nassau! What a stress relief. Now about that bill you get at the end ....
  
  
• The bathrooms. What? Yes, oh my gosh, the public area bathrooms - you will never find another cleaner. At first I was kind of shocked that an attendant happened to be there right when we were. Then I realized! They are ALWAYS there, but not in a creepy or annoying way. You don't tip them. They aren't handing you your paper towels. You go in, they might point to an open stall for you (the doors are so nice, real actual doors that nobody can see through!), you come out, they go in and make sure all is tidy and freshen up the toilet paper. Every time you go you have that fancy pointed toilet paper waiting! And they do subtly pay attention to your hand washing. Katura and I were on one of our many visits and a couple of little girls came to use the bathroom. When they were done they started to leave. The attendant reminded them they needed to wash their hands, so they did without any fuss at all! I loved it!
  
                         
  
  
• Dinners. It wasn't just food, it was an experience. I went out of my taste bud comfort zone and really enjoyed every single minute of them. Definitely something we looked forward to every night!
                                        
  
  
• The motion of the ocean. You'd think with Meniere's Disease and my balance issues that maybe I wouldn't like it, but I did! Sure I was always grabbing the wall, but it just became funny. And I absolutely loved the feeling that we were out to sea and not at a dock!
  
  
  
• No technology. We could have forked over $$$ for internet, but why? It was awesome not getting text messages, no Facebook messenger, no spam phone calls, no daily newspapers with what was going on in the world. We were just there enjoying our trip!
  
  
• The Cast Members. Being on that ship made me want to be a Cast Member again. Every one we encountered was just filled with happiness and helping make that Disney Magic come to life. I had the feeling I had when I first started working in the Magic Kingdom and wanted to keep Walt's dream alive and going. This ship had what the parks seem to be slipping in with regard to that. 
  
  
  
• The guests. I had a lot of interactions with strangers and nothing negative jumps out at me. It is a completely different vibe compared to the theme parks. You aren't rushing to use your FastPass, you don't wait in a long line for overpriced food, you don't have to sit in the atrium for an hour prior to the next event happening. The show is at 8? You can walk up at 8 and still see everything going on! Nobody was every pushing or trying to make sure their kid had something better than yours. It is like we were all just there to chill!
  
  
• The Oceaneer Club. Katura wanted to keep going. She had so much fun! And when she was ready to leave, they just sent us a message and we were able to go grab her. Characters would appear, they had so many different things to do, and they even got lunch! Best of all we were never once concerned about her safety or security while there. We went to Open House and talked to Cast Members and felt absolutely comfortable letter her have some time away from us old people!
  
  
  
• Walking up to a glamorous theater to watch a movie and just going in and having a seat. No ticket. No admission. You CAN buy snacks at the entrance -- or go just get some free ones on the upper decks to bring in with you!And they aren't just old movies. We watched the Maleficent sequel, which is still in theaters!
  
  
  
• No sales tax, and getting a discount when I made purchases in the stores.
  
  
• The dolphins. It has been a lifelong dream to be close to dolphins. Our day with them was just... I don't even have words. We learned a lot, laughed a lot, danced a lot.. the best!
  
  
  
• Castaway Cay. Everything about it from the race to the water to the bathrooms - where I accidentally walked in on a dude peeing and looking way too happy to be doing so. Oops!
                                           
  
  
• Walt Disney. We saw this photo all the time. It always made me pause and smile. Thank you, Walt.
  
  
  

Things I Learned:

• There are chat codes with the DCL app that you get so you can talk to other people on the ship. Had I put this all together prior, I could have made sure that we exchanged codes with Katura's pen pal. I knew their cabin number, so I could have easily given them our code and we could have then met up so the girls could play. This didn't occur to me until well after we were back home in Oregon. Next time we won't let this happen!
  
  
• Don't be too quiet when walking around on the upper decks at night. Huh?? Yeah, we were going to the back of the ship to see the water and have a Titanic moment... and totally discovered a young couple that was clearly trying to get busy! We didn't linger too long, and as soon as we were back by the pool we died laughing!
  
  
  
• Don't try to see and do everything. Everyone tells you this and it is true, you just can't do it all - especially on a shorter sailing. Another reason to just go and do it again! Tara, I'm talking to YOU! ;-)
  
  
• You don't really need your own reusable cups for the drink station. The cup size they had worked absolutely fine for us. I think ours were used only one time when we had our nightly pizza and fries before dinner.
  
  
  
• If you find yourself in your cabin relaxing, hit the menu button and you'll have endless options of Disney programming! Took me forever to find this. Guardians of the Galaxy was my movie of choice once discovered!
  
  
• SUNBLOCK!!! We lathered up, but somehow all of us came back pink. Katura faded to tan very quickly. The adults on the other hand? Yeah, we might be done peeling by now. Shawn has some serious color now thanks to all of that snorkeling at Castaway Cay!
  
  
  
• Bring feminine hygiene products just in case. Trust me, you don't want to have to buy and use what they sell at Disney locations.
  
  
• Just keep waving! If you leave Port Canaveral there is a webcam across the way steaming live. My mom was watching us as we sailed away. We were waving our hearts out until we were very clearly beyond the camera spot. Obviously we didn't wave long enough... as seen by this photo below. That's me, in the gray with my lanyard on... getting ready to play more miniature golf.
  

I could keep going. It was absolutely pure Disney magic. I absolutely loved everything. I nearly cried walking onto the ship AND when walking off. Knowing we were going straight back to Walt Disney World helped lessen the blow a tiny bit. But still, best vacation experience ever!

º0º See ya real soon! º0º

Anything else you're curious about? Anything I skipped and you need me to babble about? Just let me know! Heck, I'll be happy to go on another cruise just to investigate and get your answers if I don't already have them!