They say - and by they I mean the incredible writers of This is Us - "If something makes you sad when it ends, it must have been pretty wonderful when it was happening." This perfectly describes how I feel about the end of our cruise on the Disney Dream, and it was just that, an absolute dream. A four night cruise full of adventure, togetherness, fun, relaxation and being cut off from civilization.
Booking this cruise was a completely spontaneous decision to celebrate Tamy's 60th birthday. I managed to find great rates, we are lucky to have an amazing friend who watched Brody (thank you Erinn) and we cleared it with our bosses. All that was left was shopping, crafting, packing and panicking over the at port Covid test we would have to take. Everything turned out to be really easy the day we arrived at Port. To ease my nerves we took at home tests before leaving the house but yet the wait for the clear to sail email felt like a lifetime when in fact in was probably only about ten minutes.
Our stateroom was absolutely perfect, much more room than you would think and made even more special by the surprise decorations and card that waited for Tamy. Having amazing friends is a definite perk. Our verandah was gorgeous and we spent a lot of time sitting and standing out there watching the endless ocean and having wonderful conversations about everything and nothing. We turned our phones to airplane mode, only having access to the Disney Cruise Line Navigator app. There was no Facebook or Instagram to endlessly scroll, there were no emails or texts, it was just us enjoying this time unplugged.
We drank champagne, we explored the ship, we ate so much on this vacation that I will be creating a post focusing entirely on food! We swam, and lounged, and laughed. We got to know our serving team, which if you didn't know on Disney Cruises you have a dining rotation and your servers follow you to each unique restaurant (more on that in the food post) we spent much of the time in the adult sections of the ship but we also watched the amazing shows, met characters and enjoyed pirate night fireworks!
We celebrated Tamy and she was totally in her element as she loves the water, I changed outfits a lot, we took naps, I actually slept well and woke up feeling rested - actually rested and refreshed. We have been on many vacations together but this was our first cruise and one of the very few vacations where it was just the two of us and it was magical.
As you can imagine I cried a lot on this trip, getting the clear to sail, boarding the ship with Mickey Mouse waving, watching the shows, seeing our room decorated for Tamy, saying goodbye to our serving team and as Tamy had to drag me off the ship. It was so special. So special that it took me until now to write this post, and I've posted only a few photos on social media, but I'll step that up and share more and write more and prolong this dream trip for as long as I can - maybe even until the next one!
Until the next post let me know what you hope I'll share, what questions about Disney cruising you have, and what you are curious about - I'll answer as much as I can. Stay tuned because the next cruise post will be all about what we ate and it will be a doozy!