Cruisin' on Disney's Dream

February 12, my 35 birthday was supposed to be a blast.  We were set to board our first Disney Cruise.  About 5 am, Ava awoke in our hotel room and vomited in the toilet.  Yikes.  Plain toast for breakfast seemed fine...until 10am when we were getting in the car to drive to the port and she threw up again.  We laid our hands on Ava and prayed for healing and drove to the port, unsure of whether they would let us board.  We were set to meet our good friends on boards and texted them a heads up that they could quite possible be vacationing alone.  We were assessed by a nurse and since she was fever free we were allowed to board, but asked to stay out of kids areas until the evening and only if she was free of vomitting and diarrhea all day.  She had perked up completely by the time she was assessed and had no sign of any difficulty the rest of the day.  Fully tolerating lunch and dinner.

Once we were In the clear, we checked out the play area first thing....the lighted dance floor was an immediate hit for my monkeys;)

 Fun Bobbi is what we call this friend;)  She was as pleased as the kids to enter Andy's Playroom;)

 Chloe fell in love with the giant Ham piggy bank...couldn't stop dropping coins in his slot and watching them fall through;)

 Anyone who knows Phin knows he is Toy Story OBSESSED...

 He DAILY plays with his potato heads....he owns many and this Giant Mr. Potato Head had his heart soaring.

 Who doesn't love Mike Wazowski?

 We made sure to record our laughs and help power the ship;)

It had been such a crazy day, I almost forgot it was my birthday until they waiters started singing!

 A yummy chocolate mousse cake meant I got TWO desserts;)

The Disney rooms are HUGE compared to other ships.  The couch folds into a bed and the top bunk comes dowm from the ceiling;) 

The Princesses in the grand Atrium really seemed magical... 

Day one- ready to check out Nassau 

DIGGIN' the sunshine! 

The wood carvers were phenominal 

Marc and the kids outside the straw market 

Marc, Alan and three of five kids outside the ship.

 Who would have though when we met in Birth Class, we'd still be good friends almost 6 years later!!

Bobbi and I stayed on ship in Nassau with the little ones...here we are on the balcony, catching some sun while they slept;)

Bobbi and Alan on Day two at the beach 

We had three hours of adult time- do we look as giddy as we felt?! 

My favorite moments had this view.... 

Me and my man;)

After lunch we picked up our brood;) 

 This is the ocean...isn't it breathtakingly blue and clear?!

 Pirates Night...

The girls were INTO it;)

Fireworks

 Ava lost her second top tooth....this smile is so priceless!!!

Even on ship, the lines for "meeting" the characters are LONG....we waited over an hour to meet all the princes!

Phin was SMITTEN by Belle- adorable! 

Chloe and Connor don't stay still long enough to get a good photo- but they had so much fun together! 

On the last day we let Phin bring all his Toy Story toys down to Andy's Room for a visit- it was a magical moment- his imagination coming to life!

(Disney Cruise Tips-

We have a lot of advice for anyone else doing it with young kids.  The rooms are WONDERFUL- about twice the size of a normal cruise ship room.  The staff is so wonderful, as well, but sleeping an entire family in one room is not without difficulty.  We learned to stagger bedtimes and had it down pat by the fourth day;)  Being on the cruise ships schedule is difficult.  Dinner is at a set time and it is a LONG meal (granted with amazing food!).  It is pure misery when you have 5 kids under 5.  How we wish someone had told us room service was free and available.  On day 4, we learned this is what the "experienced" cruisers do with young kids (Disney doesn't offer the 24 hr. buffet other cruise lines do).  Finally, if you go with young kids, you'll be told in all your info. that you are limited to 10 hours of childcare for those under three.  You book it ahead of time.  What no one tells you, is as soon as you are on board, you can go to nursery and book additional hours.  We found out a bit late.  It would have been nice to book it on day one and cancel if we needed.  Had we known- we might of had an adult dinner or two.  They have two SMALL pools, they literally are JAM packed with people during the day at sea.  Stay on board during one of the other days and you can really enjoy the pools and water slides without swarms of people. ;)