Life, Love, and Marathons: Disney Cruise: Day 4-5

On Monday, July 29, we woke up & packed up our suitcases to head about an hour east to Port Canaveral where we would be boarding the Disney Dream for our 4 day cruise to the Bahamas. We knew we'd be on the ship early (we purposely booked an early arrival so we could make the most out of our first day on board) so we made sure to wear our swimsuits under our clothes since our room & luggage wouldn't be ready for a few hours. Once on board, we walked around the ship to get our bearings before heading for the pool. We swam, went down the water slides, and the girls enjoyed the splash pad area. We stopped to eat lunch during that time too and before we knew it, it was time for the mandatory muster drill. Afterwards, we went to the Sail Away party on the top deck, cleaned up for dinner, and enjoyed our first sit down meal at Royal Palace before ending our night watching The Golden Mickeys, a live performance. The great thing about the Disney cruises is that you rotate between 3 dining rooms during the cruise so it's a nice change of scenery and helps keep the kids entertained. You have the same servers every night as well and they were just amazing with the kids--they were doing magic tricks for them and kept them engaged.

Heading down the walkway to get checked in (that's our ship in the background!)

Once we were checked in, we still had to wait for about a half hour before they started letting groups get on the ship but we were excited to see Minnie show up

When you board the ship, you walk into the main atrium and we stopped to get our first family photo on board

And a few minutes later, the girls were already meeting Rapunzel!

The main pool area had 2 pools (this Mickey pool below wasn't very deep) with the Mickey slide (the girls loved it)...

and the Aqua Duck slide which went around the top of the ship for some amazing views; we luckily did this slide right away on the first day because there was always a really long line for it the rest of the trip

Lucy loved that they played Disney movies on this huge screen all throughout the day

Cece going down the slide

and checking out Nemo's Reef, the splash pad area

Great view for lunch

Checking out the balcony in our room

We also went to the open house at the kids' area to see what it was all about

Playing a video game with daddy

Sail Away party the Mickey and friends

The girls LOVED the soft serve you could get at any time

I mean, do they look like they're loving life or what?

Dinner at the Royal Palace dining room

Every night, they had Mickey bars for dessert for the kids

Lucy got one every single night

The girls loved sitting in these windows

Hanging out with Pluto

And since we were all dressed up, we decided to get a family picture (I took a picture of the photo we bought which is why the quality is terrible)

Before the show, we went exploring some more and found Vanellope's Sweets and Treats

So many tasty treats (they had candy and ice cream too)

We swung by the room real quick because Lucy was dying to see her bunk bed; it pulled down from the ceiling and Cece's bed below was the couch; the state room attendant would pull it down every night (there was a key to unlock it) and then put it back up in the morning

Outside the Walt Disney Theatre where they held the shows every evening

After the show, we stopped to take a quick picture with Tiana

Our first full day on the cruise included our first stop which was in Nassau. Todd & I have been here several times and just last year, our cruise stopped here and we spent the day at The Atlantis. We knew there wasn't much for the kids to do in Nassau (the Atlantis is expensive and didn't seem worth the money since they wouldn't want to do any of the slides or attractions) so we basically got off the ship, walked around the shopping area for a little bit, and then got back on the ship and spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon at the pool with them. Lucy wanted to go to the kids' area in the afternoon so both girls went there for a couple hours while Todd & I had some time by ourselves at the adult pool area. We showered and got ready for dinner before picking the girls up. They had a great time and told us they made cupcakes and went to a dance party. Dinner was at Animators' Palate that night which was the most kid-friendly of all 3 dining rooms. We skipped the entertainment that evening (another live performance show) and opted to do the mini golf course on the top deck.

The girls loved sitting and playing on the balcony when we were in our room