Wow, where did the month of December go? Fastest month of my life. Apparently I have been too busy to blog on Life At Thirtysomething since November, so sorry about that. I know you’ve been wondering where I’ve been all this time. Ha! Ok, maybe not.
Well to update you, I recently got back from a fun family vacation on a Disney Caribbean Cruise to Cozumel, Mexico and Castaway Cay, Bahamas. Christmas on a beach ain’t bad!
While en route to Miami, we were stuck in Atlanta with a 3 hour layover and I had a nice little chat with a fellow mom who said something that was so hilariously true that I had to share it with you. As we watched our daughters mash play doh into the airport carpet, she looked at me and said: “You know, with kids you don’t take vacations, you take trips.”
Word.
For me, my vacation starts the minute I get on the plane. I love to read a good book or take a nice long nap to our destination. But none of these leisure things happen with a toddler sitting on my lap. No, it was more like Leo was body surfing between me, my husband, and my in-law’s laps the entire plane ride. What got me through it all was the vision of myself lying poolside, sipping a Pina Colada.
Oh wait, it’s not about me.
I think I over imagined my free time on the trip. That whole stretch of time I spent in my closet trying to decide on the perfect bikini to flatter my curvier post-breastfeeding body was totally in vain. No such bikini exists. There isn’t even enough fairy dust on a Disney Cruise ship to shrink this baby bump. I mentioned to Jeff as we got home that I barely have a tan after this trip and he replied with; “Well, it wasn’t really about you, it’s about the kids.”
Ok, fine. It’s about the kids. *eye roll*
How about a few beach pics? This was Christmas day in Castaway Cay, Disney’s private island in the Bahamas:
Top five reasons to take a Disney Cruise
I’d definitely recommend a Disney Cruise. I’m not pretending to be a cruising connoisseur. Before this, I took a Carnival cruise for my honeymoon 9 years ago and it was hillbilly as hell, so I haven’t been on one since. But my friend has been up my ass about taking a Disney Cruise for the past year and a half saying how great it is, so when the opportunity presented itself I was pretty excited.
Reason #1: Child care on the ship. I’m not going to lie; as a stay at home mom who is with my kids ALL THE TIME, a huge value for me is the child care on the ship. You can take your 3+ year olds to a super fun and interactive kids club area where they play games, eat lunch, watch movies, go down slides, and occasionally get surprise visits from Mickey for an impromptu dance party! (Tip: Kids must be potty trained!) And the little tots 0-3 have a separate play space and napping room which is very well looked after by loving childcare providers. The two days we were at sea I’d drop Annabelle and Leo off at the kids club for a few hours and mommy and daddy would go drinky drinky by the pool! I also got an amazing European facial and microdermabrasion the first day which was heaven. Sounds a little like a vacation, right? See, everyone wins!
Reason #2: Good food. Another great value is the food. I’m usually never impressed with catered food, but the food on this ship was great. The breakfast buffet was money and I looked forward to it everyday. We ate like kings the entire trip, which means my baby bump is off the chain right now. Grrrrr!
Reason #3: Fantastic service. Disney has always been known for its service and I was happy that the service on the ship was top notch. The wait staff is super friendly and accommodating – your wish is their command! I loved how we had the same dinner waiters all week, so they knew our favorite wines and how to make the kids happy with a little Peter Pan hat made out of a napkin! I especially loved how everyone addressed Annabelle as ‘princess’! She felt so special, I could tell.
Reason #4: The evening shows and entertainment. Every night there is a musical show and family fun event planned, providing cruisers with plenty of activities to keep them busy. Disney has a show called “Disney Dreams, An Enchanted Classic”, which was awarded the best show of all cruise lines. It had reenacted musical performances from the biggest Disney princess films, and over the course of the 50 minute show I was magically transported back to a time when my favorite people in the whole world were my mom, dad, Ariel, Cinderella, and Aurora (circa 1989)!
Reason #5: The Disney characters. My favorite thing of all were the Disney characters. They don’t inundate you with Mickey and Minnie to the point where you’re sick of them. They want the characters to draw a crowd and excited cheers, so it was always a treat when we’d see them out and about. Annabelle got pics with all her favorite characters, so of course she was on cloud 9 the whole trip!
So although it really may not feel like a super relaxing vacation when you’re traveling with young children in those first few years, you can have snippets of kid-free vacation time on a Disney cruise, while still enjoying plenty of family time as well. This is reason enough for me to book another one soon!
P.S. Higher quality pics taken by photographers on the cruise will be posted on the blog once I receive them!