You might remember the cute Hall family who won our Unfrozen Winter contest earlier this year by submitting a picture of their creative snowman. Check it out!
Climate Control Service Experts sent the winners on a Disney Cruise and covered airfare for four. Mom and Dad (Rebecca and Bradley) took their two oldest children, Korbin and Brooke, on their Disney Cruise in July this year. 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 describe the amount of fun we had and how absolutely incredible the whole thing was,” wrote Rebecca. “It was a vacation we could have never done on our own. Disney does cruising right!”
The Hall family was sweet enough to send us their itinerary and some snapshots from their awesome trip. If you’re interested in taking a Disney Cruise, or just want to find out what it’s all about, check out the highlights from the Hall’s vacation.
Monday
We were on the water for two days (Saturday and Sunday) and then docked in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. We had reservations for a Catamaran and went out with 4 other families all day. It was my kids’ first time snorkeling and they loved it. We spotted turtles and stingrays – it may have been the coolest experience of the entire cruise!
Tuesday
We traveled from Tortola to St. Thomas in the American Virgin Islands, where we were able to snorkel some more, got to swim, and hung out on the beach. The water was truly that turquoise blue you always see in pictures – truly perfect.
Thursday
We traveled all day Wednesday and then got off at Castaway Cay, Disney’s Exclusive Island. The water was so blue and had perfect visibility below, so of course we had to do more snorkeling! They hid Mickey Mouses you could look for underwater, which was nice because there weren’t as many fish. They also include an 18 and older beach which we lounged around on while the kids played games. Castaway Cay had employees everywhere to help take care of the kids so we (Rebecca and Bradley) hung out and had a daiquiri. It was just like a floating Disneyland!
Aboard
I (Rebecca) get goosebumps thinking about everything on the cruise ship – it was all so fun and extraordinary! The cruise has a “Midship Detective Agency” where you select the mystery you want to solve and they give you a card so you can record all your clues. When you hold the card up to a painting, the painting springs to life – it speaks to the group, tells you about the mystery you are solving, and gives you clues and directions. One mystery took us two hours because we were going all over the cruise ship.
They are continually playing first-run movies out around the pool so we got to enjoy Big Friendly Giant, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Jungle Book, and Finding Dory. 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!
All of us went Goofy Golfing and they also have games like basketball, fooseball, and a Tween Club called Edge with activities like scavenger hunts, ice breakers, and more.
It’s really easy to see characters on the boat – you only have to wait three or four minutes versus 30 minutes or more at Disneyland. We saw about two a day, and one day we hit five in a row! They also have several versions of the characters, such as Captain Mickey, Traditional Mickey, etc.
The room was amazing! We had an ocean view room with a
really big porthole and window seat. The room was a perfect size and all four of us were comfortable and never felt smothered.
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 throughout your meal and Royal Court was extremely elegant and made me think of Cinderella. The food is very gourmet and they have an awesome variety. My son tried everything, even escargot at the Royal Court. (He said it tasted like dirt!)
Animators Palette is animation-themed and they put markers on your table so you can illustrate a figure. They provide a tutorial on how to draw a figure, then they collect the drawings and at the very end of dinner, they animate your drawings on these screens on the wall. You have no idea it’s coming! They put them to music and put them in Disney clips. My daughter is our artist so she put a lot of effort into 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 wrote after they returned from the trip. “I get teary-eyed when I think about it all. Submitting our picture to a contest I never thought would go anywhere, learning we were a finalist, the stressful voting phase, the big win, researching and picking which cruise, the elation of going and finally experiencing an incredible vacation. It was such a fun time living it all. Thank you, thank you!”
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