You may remember the precious Hall family who were the winners of our Unfrozen Winter contest earlier this year. Check out their adorable snowman submission!
Robinson Service Experts sent the family on a Disney Cruise and provided airfare for four. Mom and Dad (Rebecca and Bradley) took their two oldest children, Korbin and Brooke, on their Disney Cruise earlier this summer. Korbin and Brooke had never been on a cruise before and Rebecca and Bradley hadn’t been in about 10 years.
“I cannot begin to explain how much fun we had and how seriously wonderful everything was,” wrote Rebecca. “It was a vacation we could have never taken on our own. Disney does cruising right!”
The Hall parents were sweet enough to send over their itinerary and some pictures from their awesome trip. If you want to a Disney Cruise, or just want to find out what it’s all about, read on to see the highlights from the Hall’s experience.
Monday
We sailed for two days (Saturday and Sunday) and then docked in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. We had reservations for a Catamaran and went out with 4 other families for the day. It was my children’s first time snorkeling and they had a blast. We got to see turtles and stingrays – it may have been the most fun experience of the whole cruise!
Tuesday
We went from Tortola to St. Thomas in the American Virgin Islands, where we got to do more snorkeling, swam, and bummed around on the beach. The water was truly that turquoise blue you always see in pictures – truly perfect.
Thursday
We sailed all day Wednesday and then ported at Castaway Cay, Disney’s Private Island. The water was very blue and had amazing visibility beneath, so of course that meant more snorkeling! They hid Mickey Mouses you could find underwater, which was nice because there weren’t as many fish. They also have an 18 and older beach which we lounged around on while Korbin and Brooke played with other kids. The island had staff everywhere to watch the kids so we (Rebecca and Bradley) hung out and drank a daiquiri. It was just like a floating Disneyland!
Aboard
I (Rebecca) get goosebumps thinking about everything on the cruise ship – everything was so much fun and unforgettable! The cruise has a “Midship Detective Agency” where you pick the mystery you want to solve and they give you a card so you can write down all your clues. When you put the card up to a painting, the painting springs to life – it talks to you, tells you about the mystery you are trying to solve, and gives you clues and directions. One mystery went on for two hours because we were chasing clues all over the ship.
They are continually running first-run movies out near the pool so we got to see Jungle Book. We also got to go on the Aqua Duct, which is a big slide that zooms you up and down and swings you out across the boat!
All of us went Goofy Golfing and they also have other games and a Tween Club called Edge with activities like scavenger hunts, get to you know you games, and more.
It’s really easy to find characters on the boat – you only have to wait three or four minutes versus 30 minutes or more at Disneyland. We met about two per day, and one day we met five in a row! They also have several versions of the characters, including Captain Mickey, Traditional Mickey, etc.
The actual room was incredible! Ours included an ocean view room with a HUGE porthole and window seat. Our room was a perfect size and all four of us were comfy and never felt smothered.
Dining
You go between three restaurants. Enchanted Garden has neat flower lights on the ceiling that open and close and the ceiling changes colors throughout your meal and Royal Court was really elegant and put me in mind of Cinderella. The food is very gourmet and they have a good medley. My oldest tried everything, even the escargot at the Royal Court. (He said it tasted like dirt!)
Animators Palette is animation-themed and they give you markers on your table so you can illustrate a figure. They offer a tutorial on how to draw a figure, then they collect the drawings and at the end of your dinner, they animate your drawings on the wall. You have no warning! They put them to music and place them in Disney films. Brooke is our artist so she worked really hard on hers and was ecstatic – the rest of us weren’t quite as proud
“Our family cannot thank Service Experts enough for this once in a lifetime vacation,” Rebecca wrote after they returned from their cruise. “I tear up when I think about it all. Submitting our picture to a contest I never thought would go anywhere, finding out we were a finalist, the anxious voting stage, the big win, researching and choosing which cruise, the excitement of going and finally experiencing an unbelievable trip. It was such an amazing time living it all. Thank you, thank you!”
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