You might recall the precious Hall family who were the winners of our Unfrozen Winter contest earlier this year. Check out their adorable snowman submission!
Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning sent the family on a Disney Cruise and covered airfare for four. Rebecca and Bradley (Mom and Dad) took their two oldest children, Korbin and Brooke, on their Disney Cruise during mid-summer. Korbin and Brooke had never been on a cruise before and Rebecca and Bradley hadn’t been in about 10 years.
“I can’t even begin to explain how much fun we had and how truly unbelievable everything was,” wrote Rebecca. “It was a trip we could have never made happen on our own. Disney does cruising right!”
The Hall family was sweet enough to send us their itinerary and some pictures from their incredible trip. If you’re thinking about going on a Disney Cruise, or just curious what it’s all about, read on to see the highlights from the Hall’s cruise.
Monday
We were on the ship for two days (Saturday and Sunday) and then ported in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. We scheduled a Catamaran and went out with four different families all day. It was Korbin and Brooke’s first time snorkeling and they had a blast. We saw turtles and stingrays – it may have been the coolest experience of the whole trip!
Tuesday
We went from Tortola to St. Thomas in the American Virgin Islands, where we got to snorkel even more, got to swim, and laid out on the beach. The water was really that turquoise blue you always see in pictures – truly picture perfect.
Thursday
We were on the ship all day Wednesday and then got off at Castaway Cay, Disney’s Cruise Line Guest-Only Island. The water was so blue and had perfect visibility underneath, so of course we had to do more snorkeling! They hid Mickey Mouses you could find underwater, which made up for not having as many fish. They also have an adults-only beach which we took advantage of while Korbin and Brooke played basketball, pool, and shuffleboard. They had employees everywhere to watch the kids so we (Bradley and Rebecca) relaxed and enjoyed a daiquiri. It’s like a floating Disneyland!
Aboard
I (Rebecca) get goosebumps reminiscing about everything on the ship – everything was all so fun and extraordinary! They have 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 hold the card up to a painting, it comes alive – it speaks to the group, tells you about the mystery you are working to solve, and gives you clues and directions. One mystery took us two hours because we were going all over the cruise ship.
They are continually showing first-run movies out around the pool so we got to enjoy Jungle Book. We also got to experience the Aqua Duct, which is a large slide that takes you up and down and swings you out above the boat!
The whole group went Goofy Golfing and the cruise also has other games and a Tween Club called Edge with activities like scavenger hunts and more.
It’s really easy to find characters on the ship – you only have to wait three or four minutes versus 30 or 40 at Disneyland. We got to see about two a day, and one day we got five in a row! They also have different versions of the characters, like Captain Mickey, Traditional Mickey, etc.
The actual room was incredible! Ours included an ocean view room with a HUGE porthole and window seat. The stateroom was a really good size and all four of us were cozy and never felt squished.
Dining
You rotate through three restaurants. Enchanted Garden has neat flower lights on the ceiling that open and close and the colors on the ceiling change during your meal and Royal Court was extremely elegant and made me think of Cinderella. The menu is very gourmet and they have an awesome medley. My oldest tried everything, even the escargot at the Royal Court. (He told us it tasted like dirt!)
Animators Palette is animation-themed and they put markers on your table so you can draw a figure. They provide directions on how to draw a figure, then they collect the drawings and at the end of your dinner, they animate your drawings on big screens. You have no warning! They choreograph them to music and position them in Disney clips. 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 unbelievable vacation,” Rebecca told us after they returned home. “I get emotional when I think about the experience as a whole. Entering a contest I never thought would go anywhere, hearing we were a finalist, the nail-biting voting phase, the big win, researching and choosing which cruise, the anticipation of going and finally experiencing an unbelievable vacation. It was such a fun time living it all. We are so grateful!”
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