Warning: These next few posts about the cruise are going to be a picture overload! Sorry in advance! :)
Friday morning our adventure began as we got the girls dressed in their matching cruise shirts and bows. I ordered them both off of Etsy and they turned out so cute! (The bow was a little large for Blakely LOL) I am such a sucker for dressing my girls alike or as I like to call it Twining! We finished packing the car and headed towards Port Canaveral around 10 am.
We arrived to the port at 12:30 and the entire embarkation process was such a breeze! We dropped off the luggage, Dave went to park the car, went through a brief security check and had our passports scanned and on we went!!
The first thing we did was head to one of the restaurants for lunch. We purposely didn't eat on the way down so we could enjoy some yummy free food! The buffet was stocked with stone crab legs, shrimp cocktail, a prime rib carving station, and of course Delainey's favorite a dessert bar.
After lunch, we walked around the boat to get our bearings and see where everything was. This is a view of the atrium from the 5th floor.
Also on the 5th floor was the kids area. We checked out the nursery first, because we had reservations for them to keep Blakely for a few hours on Sunday night so we could get some alone time. The only down side of the nursery (for kids 0-2) is you have to pay an hourly rate for babysitting. It's not included with the price of the cruise :( Everything was decorated like "It's a small world" in the nursery and looked good so we continued on with the tour.
Then we went to the Oceaneer Lab & Club. This is for age 3-12 year olds and it was AMAZING! There were so many separate rooms to play in and things to do. I think the most exciting part about it was the futuristic hand washers that squirted out soap and water and you just stay still while it circulated around you. They had a pixie hollow area, star wars area, Andy's room (from Toy Story), Video game room, and a huge craft room that I can think of off the top of my head. Delainey loved this area and was never ready to leave when we picked her up. Best part. They are open from 8 am to 1 am most nights! Not that she ever stayed past 10, but still a nice option!
After our tour, we headed down to our room to change clothes and put on our swimsuits for some swimming & slides! I loved that they had a huge movie screen playing movies while laying out at the pool. The Aquaduck was also a really fun slide that is clear and goes off the side of the ship so you have a great view from up there.
After a few hours of swimming, we headed back to the room to shower up & change clothes and head back up to the deck for the Sail away party. Delainey of course needed to wear her "fancy gown" for the party. All the expected characters were there for the send off!
After the party we went to watch one of the shows (It was so good and kept BOTH the girls attention the entire time), watched the Christmas tree lighting in the atrium (the boat was already decorated for Christmas - that starts on Nov. 1), and then headed to Dinner in Animators Palette.
If you have never been on a Disney Cruise, each night you eat in a different restaurant (there are 3). The first night we were assigned Animator's Palette. It is the most modern/fun atmosphere of the 3. The pictures on the wall are actually TV's and Crush from the movie Finding Nemo swims around from TV to TV and talks with the guests. They servers also do a little skit with the guests and Blakely had a good time participating in that. For dinner I had the Lobster pasta purses for an appetizer, an orange & beet salad, filet mignon for my entree, and a white chocolate & milk chocolate cheesecake. All of the food was really good. Delainey was not pictured in any of the dinner pics because she was too busy playing in the kids area. We got her a hot dog, pizza & fries from one of the 24 hour places after the show and sent her to play instead of sitting through a long dinner. They also made some pureed food for Blakely each night which was an added nice touch of them going above and beyond.
After dinner we were beat from the full day we just had, so we scooped D from the kids area and headed off to bed.
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