You might remember the sweet Hall family who won our Unfrozen Winter contest earlier this year by submitting a picture of their creative snowman. Check it out!
Fras-Air/General Service Experts sent the family on a Disney Cruise and covered airfare for four. Mom and Dad (Rebecca and Bradley) took their two oldest children, Korbin and Brooke, on their Disney Cruise in July this year. This was Korbin and Brooke’s first cruise and Rebecca and Bradley had not been on a cruise in nearly 10 years.
“I cannot begin to describe the amount of fun we had and how seriously wonderful the whole thing was,” wrote Rebecca. “It was a vacation we could have never made happen on our own. Disney does cruising right!”
The Halls were kind enough to give us their itinerary and some photos from their amazing trip. If you want to a Disney Cruise, or just want to find out what it’s all about, keeping reading for the highlights from the Hall’s cruise.
Monday
We were on the ship for two days (Saturday and Sunday) and then ported in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. We scheduled a Catamaran and went out with four different families for the day. It was my children’s first time snorkeling and they loved it. We got to see turtles and stingrays – it was quite possibly the coolest experience of the entire cruise!
Tuesday
We traveled from Tortola to St. Thomas in the American Virgin Islands, where we got to snorkel even more, swam, and hung out on the beach. The water was truly that turquoise blue you always see in pictures – truly perfect.
Thursday
We were on the ship all day Wednesday and then ported at Castaway Cay, Disney’s Private Island. The water was incredibly blue and had amazing visibility below, so of course that meant more snorkeling! They had hidden Mickey Mouses you could find underwater, which helped make up for the fact there weren’t as many fish. They also have an adults-only beach which we lounged around on while our children played basketball, pool, and shuffleboard. They had staff everywhere to keep an eye on the kids so we (Bradley and Rebecca) laid out and enjoyed a daiquiri. It’s like a floating Disneyland!
Aboard
It gives me goosebumps reminiscing about everything on the boat – it was so much fun and unforgettable! The cruise has a “Midship Detective Agency” where you choose the mystery you want to solve and they give you a card so you can keep track of all your clues. When you place the card up to a painting, it actually comes alive – it talks to you, tells you about the mystery you are working to solve, and gives you signals and directions. One mystery took us two hours because we were going all over the cruise ship.
They are continually showing 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 ride the Aqua Duct, which is a large slide that shoots you up and down and swings you out across the boat!
The whole group went Goofy Golfing and the cruise also has games like basketball, fooseball, and a Tween Club called Edge with activities like scavenger hunts and more.
It’s so easy to see characters on the cruise – you only have to wait three or four minutes versus 30 minutes or more at Disneyland. We met about two a day, and one day we hit five in a row! They also have multiple versions of the characters, such as Captain Mickey, Traditional Mickey, etc.
The actual room was incredible! We had an ocean view room with a large porthole and window seat. The room was a really good size and all four of us were cozy and never felt smothered.
Dining
You rotate through three restaurants. Enchanted Garden has awesome flower lights on the ceiling that open and close and the colors on the ceiling change while you eat and Royal Court was really elegant and made me think of Cinderella. The menu is very gourmet and they have a great medley. My oldest tried everything, even escargot at the Royal Court. (He told us it tasted like dirt!)
Animators Palette is animation-themed and they put markers on your table so you can illustrate a figure. They provide a tutorial on how to draw a figure, then they pick up the drawings and at the very end of dinner, they animate your drawings on these screens on the wall. You have no idea it’s coming! They choreograph them to music and position them in Disney movies. Our daughter is our artist so she put a lot of effort into hers and was ecstatic – the rest of us weren’t quite as talented
“We can't thank Service Experts enough for this unbelievable experience,” Rebecca said after they returned from the trip. “I get teary-eyed when I think about the whole experience. Submitting our picture to a contest I never thought would go anywhere, finding out we were a finalist, the anxious voting phase, the big win, researching and selecting which cruise, the anticipation of going and finally experiencing a sensational adventure. It was such a wonderful time living it all. We are so grateful!”
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