Won’t You Let me Take You on a Sea Cruise!
In September of 2015 we took our boys on a 7 night Disney Eastern Caribbean Cruise on the Fantasy. In 2012, we had taken them on a 4 night Disney cruise to the Bahamas on Memorial Day weekend. It was so much fun, we decided to up the ante. My brother, his homeschooled 8 year son, and my parents came too. We went down a few days early so we could visit Universal Studios on a Thursday and Friday. We had so much fun in the Harry Potter section of both parks at Universal. There was hardly anyone there. We jumped on and off the rides with out much of a wait. If you like Harry Potter, I suggest checking it out. There are plenty of rides for “adventurous kids” at Universal. My kids prefer it over Disney, they have graduated from all the rides at Magic Kingdom. Space Mountain is a walk in the park for them.
We arrived to the cruise port in Port Canaveral on Saturday morning. Since we had taken a prior Disney Cruise we had special passes to board the ship early. The kids spent a lot of time at the pool/Duck Slide and the Kid’s Club. All of us enjoyed going to current Disney movies and the Disney live shows. You dine at a different restaurant on the ship each night. We chose the late seating at 8:00 PM and it was all we could do to keep their little heads from not plopping right into their dinner. Our favorite restaurant on the ship was Animator’s Palace. Everyone at the table drew a figure on a piece of paper at the beginning of dinner. They then took our creations and animated them!
We spent two nights at sea until we docked at St. Martin for the day. We hadn’t booked any excursions with the cruise line, however with the free wifi they offer when you get on the cruise we were able to find a private boat tour for half the cost of the cruise excursion the day before arriving to St. Martin. After searching Trip Advisor we found a reputable company with great reviews. It was only a ten minute walk from the port in St. Martin. Soualigia Tours was awesome! We did a full day trip in a Speed Boat. The kids LOVED the fast wet ride! I can still picture their ecstatic faces as we leaped and bounded over the waves plus. We snorkeled with sea turtles and other cool sea creatures. Included on the the trip was lunch on a quiet beach and numerous beverages for kids and adults alike. It was the best meal on the entire trip. Not to say that the food on the ship wasn’t good, it is just difficult to mass produce deliciousness. We returned to the ship happy and exhausted. The next morning we stopped in St. Thomas. We got off the ship and did some browsing on the island. It was fun, but nothing could beat the day before. After a couple more nights on the ship we came to Disney’s Island Castaway Cay. The kids loved playing on the beach while we sat and watched with Pina Coladas in hand. This was our last day of the cruise, by the time we all returned to the ship we were all ready to go home. Seven nights was fun, but a bit much.
