Mickey boat finalllllly happened. I say finally because Tuck has been chatting about “mickey boat” since I told him we were going on one in July. It did not disappoint! any of us! We know this is a vacation we will do again in the future. 
prince charming shirt // TBBC trunks
pirate night!!
{pima cotton pjs with blue lambs c/o bella bliss and soft bib c/o blue eye sunrise}
all decked out for Christmas
he passed out on the boat. at eleven am. which probably hasn’t happened since he was 1!
guess the rocking really got him sleepy!
not to worry – he woke up! to catch fish (:
So a few things if you ever decide to do a Disney Cruise!
-The mickey boat we took was the Disney Magic. It’s their oldest ship, but Disney keeps everything clean and updated. We left out of miami and docked in Nassau, Castaway Cay and Key West. It was a four night cruise.
-Generally there is one night on a disney cruise that’s pirate themed. Ours was the night we were leaving Nassau. There are fireworks (but it was at 10pm soooo none of us made it), people dress up – including your waiters, and there are all kind of activities. Tuck wore a hannah anderson romper with one of his Christmas presents – the melissa and doug pirate dress up costume. Wes wore leggings from his christmas jammies, a white sleeveless shirt, and a pirate hat I picked up at target. JB and my dad made their costumes which actually turned out pretty good. They do give everyone in your stateroom a bandana in case you don’t have a costume with you.
– They cut your kids food up! AND they’ll even cut yours up! JB was holding Wes one time when dinner arrived and they asked if they could cut his steak up. JB was so confused at first (:
– The food was actually very good. I’ve only cruised a few times – growing up (american family cruise line) right after college (carnival -can you say booze cruise), and then our transatlantic cruise (celebrity cruise line) back home from switzerland after our first year there. Disney cruise had by far the best food out of those! My mom is gluten free and they took it very seriously. There was lobster, duck confit, and chateaubriand! we were all impressed.
– We actually were awarded “The Magical Family” of the cruise. I can’t say this without cracking up. The first night my mom and I were having our chamomile tea on the balcony when we got a knock at the door with a letter and a fruit basket. The letter said we were chosen as the magical family. We were both dying laughing and figured everyone is “magical” on a disney cruise? But apparently after asking a few workers – there is only one selected per cruise. The main perks were surprise treats every day and you could order room service off of any menu instead of just the limited room service menu. I guess it’s a big secret how you get picked?! It was definitely a nice treat for when we ordered breakfast a couple times and had it on the balcony.
-Nassau – I searched but didn’t find too much for both of the kids to do while in Nassau. So my mom stayed behind on the ship with Wesley. After we checked out the nursery and were comfortable with it, we surprised my mom with some spa treatments and booked wes in the nursery for two hours while the rest of us went on a little fishing charter. We used Bahama Boat Tour. Our goal being for tuck to catch some fish, and we ended up catching a ton. Reels were hot! even if they were just tiny ones. We packed him his life jacket from home and had it with us, and then I must have set it down somewhere on our way out, and I didn’t realize it until we were getting on the boat. Even though Tuck can swim, and we didn’t go out far, I still got a little nervous!
– Castaway Cay is Disney’s own little island. We were lucky enough to be the only ship in port that day, so the island was not crowded at all. There are wheel barrows and beach strollers available to anyone as soon as you exit the first stop if you take the tram. We had our bob stroller so we didn’t take a tram, but the walk into the “town” is beautiful, so we hoofed it. There are tons of shaded lounge chairs, towels, and hammocks – all yours for the taking. It made the beach with babies a piece of cake. There are water slides, a splash pad, a bike trail, and a ton of other excursions you can do (but those you pay for). Lunch is served on the island.
– My husband earned this trip through his company and we had just a couple receptions with the company. One couple came without their kids and said they’d definitely recommend it. There are adult only spots aboard and on castaway cay. There’s also an adults only restaurant called Palo. My parents and us went there for brunch one day and dropped the kids off in the nursery. It was incredible! I had thought it was only $10 per person but I guess it’s actually $30 pp, (including a mimosa or bellini) but we all said it was worth it. That’s the only restaurant where you’d have to pay a fee to dine.
-The nursery on board did a great job! When you are docked that first day you can check out all of the kids clubs / nursery and meet the cast members. We used it a couple of times with Wesley and all but one of the times the caretakers outnumbered the kids. Since it’s 0-3, and Tuck didn’t turn three until the week following, he had to go in there while we had our meal at Palo. When I came back I found him playing with Wesley but as soon as he saw me he said “get me outta here ma”… haha. I think it was just too baby-ish for him. But he did get to play in “The Oceaneer lab”, which accommodates 3-12 year olds, during open play a couple of times, which he loved. That’s one of the main reasons I think we will probably wait until Wes is 3 to go back. If he’s anything like his big brother!
-If you go download the disney cruise line navigator app to stay in touch with each other aboard. I particularly loved their own emoji’s (:
-You can use their strollers on board. I wish we would have done that instead of bringing our huge bob!
-Our staterooms were next to each other which was really convenient. The rooms aren’t huge but I think that’s to be expected. The bathroom is separate from the shower/bath.
-Sleeping arrangements! Tuck slept in my parents room on the sofa that converts to a twin bed, while Wesley slept in our room.
-The shows were so good! We were so impressed. They also have a movie theater with everything that’s actually in the theater at home. Tuck watched “a good dinosaur” with my dad one morning.
-There were characters every where and the lines to meet them weren’t long but we really enjoyed the times where they interacted with the kids versus waiting in line to take a picture.
-There are two slides, two splash pads (one for the potty trained and one for wes), and a couple pools too. One has a huge movie screen that plays disney movies the whole time. Tuck was obsessed with the slide. He would just keep going on it again and again. He’s a dare devil!
When we were leaving Tuck said “TURN AROUND! Go back to mickey boat!!” … So I think he enjoyed himself (;
If there are any specific questions – let me know and I’ll be happy to answer them either via comment or email.
xxs
