You may remember the sweet Hall family who won our Unfrozen Winner contest earlier this year. Check out their adorable snowman submission!
Chief/Bauer Service Experts sent the family on a Disney Cruise and covered airfare for four. Bradley and Rebecca took their two oldest kids, Korbin and Brooke, on their Disney Cruise during mid-summer. This was the first cruise for Korbin and Brooke and the first in about 10 years for Rebecca and Bradley.
“I can’t even begin to explain all the fun we had and how seriously incredible the whole experience was,” wrote Rebecca. “It was a vacation we could have never made happen on our own. Disney does cruising right!”
The Hall parents were sweet enough to give us their itinerary and some pictures from their incredible trip. If you’re thinking about going on a Disney Cruise, or just want to find out what it’s all about, check out the highlights from the Hall’s cruise.
Monday
We were on the water for a couple days (Saturday and Sunday) and then docked in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. We scheduled a Catamaran and went out with 4 other families for the day. It was my son and daughter’s first time snorkeling and they loved it. We got to see turtles and stingrays – it may have been the best experience of the entire cruise!
Tuesday
We traveled from Tortola to St. Thomas in the American Virgin Islands, where we got to do more snorkeling, got to swim, and bummed around on the beach. The water was actually that turquoise blue that they show on TV – truly incredible.
Thursday
We traveled all day Wednesday and then got off at Castaway Cay, Disney’s Private Island. The water was very blue and had amazing visibility below, so of course - more snorkeling! They placed a bunch of Mickey Mouses you could find underwater, which was nice because there weren’t as many fish. They also include an 18 and older beach which we took advantage of while our children played with other kids. Castaway Cay had employees everywhere to help take care of the kids so we (Mom and Dad) relaxed and drank a daiquiri. It was basically a floating Disneyland!
Aboard
It gives me goosebumps remembering everything on the cruise ship – it was so much fun and amazing! They have a “Midship Detective Agency” where you choose the mystery you want to solve and they give you a card so you can record all your clues. When you hold the card up to a painting, the painting comes to life – it talks 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 cruise ship.
They are continually running first-run movies out near the pool so we got to watch Big Friendly Giant, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Jungle Book, and Finding Dory. We also got to experience the Aqua Duct, which is a large slide that zooms you up and down and swings you out over the boat!
The whole group went Goofy Golfing and the cruise also has games like basketball, fooseball, and a Tween Club called Edge with things like scavenger hunts, get to you know you games, and more.
It’s very easy to find characters on the cruise – you only have to wait a few minutes versus 30 minutes or more at Disneyland. We saw about two each day, and one day we hit five in a row! They also have different versions of the characters, such as Captain Mickey, Traditional Mickey, etc.
The stateroom was amazing! Ours came with an ocean view room with a
really big porthole and window seat. The room was a perfect size and all four of us were cozy and never felt smothered.
Dining
You rotate through three restaurants. Enchanted Garden has cool flower lights on the ceiling that open and close and the colors change on the ceiling throughout your meal and Royal Court was very elegant and reminded me of Cinderella. The menu is very gourmet and they have a great variety. Korbin tried everything, even the escargot at the Royal Court. (He thought it tasted like dirt!)
Animators Palette is animation-themed and they give you markers on your table so you can sketch a figure. They provide directions on how to draw a figure, then they collect the drawings and at the very end of dinner, they animate your drawings on these screens on the wall. You have no warning! They put them to music and place them in Disney films. My daughter is our artist so she put a lot of effort into hers and was elated – the rest of us weren’t quite as accomplished
“Our family cannot thank Service Experts enough for this once in a lifetime experience,” Rebecca said after they returned from the trip. “I get teary-eyed when I think about the experience as a whole. Entering a contest I never thought would go anywhere, learning we were a finalist, the anxious voting phase, the big announcement, planning and picking which cruise, the elation of going and finally experiencing an amazing trip. It was such a wonderful time living it all. Thank you, thank you!”
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