The Miller Family: Disney Cruise

We took, yet another, trip on the Disney Fantasy last week and, once again, it did not disappoint. This year we traveled to St. Thomas, Tortola, and Castaway Cay. Maddon was really excited to see the boat this year and meet all of the characters. Mason decided this year to exert more independence and spend a lot of time at the pools and in the kids club meeting other kids his age. We tried to explore parts of the ship that we still hadn't enjoyed on prior sailings, but I'm certain there is still more that we haven't done! We flew to Orlando the day before we set sail, like last year, to break up the trip for the kids. It also gave the boys a chance to see Auntie Randa on her birthday!

On the plane

Didn't take long for sleepiness to set in!

On the Mickey bus

Boarding the Mickey boat

One perk of flying in the day before is that you are one of the first to board the boat. The downfall of that is that you have to wait for your room to be ready. Mason wasted no time dragging Auntie Erica to the pool! Maddon had a great time passing the time sitting in a porthole watching the other boats (including another Mickey boat) in port!

Chilling in a porthole

Heading to our room!

Maddon sent Mommy a welcome birthday treat which was waiting on our bed!

Our first day at sea was jam packed with characters. We started out with a Disney Junior character breakfast. The same day we also attended the Frozen meet and greet as well as one with the princesses. We quickly learned how much Maddon loves princesses! He was so excited and wouldn't stop taking about them. He kept asking to see them again! Mason decided to skip the characters and hang out at the kids club instead. He's growing up too fast!

Disney Junior breakfast

Caught him with his mouth full!

Frozen

So many princesses!

We also ran into a few other characters that day!

Sometimes you run into friends your jammers!

This was also formal night. This year the boys put some Star Wars themed touches on their outfits. Surprisingly, both boys kept their ties etc. on long enough to get some family photos taken!

Maddon's favorite part of the night was double dessert at dinner!

Our second day at sea just happened to be my birthday! Devin and I went to brunch at Palo, one of the adult only restaurants on the boat, while the boys went to the open house at the kids clubs! Dining at Palo was a first for us. The meal was super fancy, but was strangely quiet without the boys! After dinner we took Mason up to mini golf for the first time and then we explored the arcade onboard.

At Palo

Maddon exploring the kids clubs

A few dinner/after dinner pics

Mini-golf and air hockey!

We woke up the next day at our first port of call, Tortola. This was our first visit to the island. We spent the morning exploring the shopping at their pier park before heading back to the boat for some lunch and swimming. This was also pirate night so everyone had to don their pirate get ups before dinner!

Checking out Tortola from our verandah

Tortola

A little post swim ice cream

Spotting a rainbow

Pirate night

Mason ran into Goofy while out shopping in his pjs

Our next port day was the following day, St. Thomas. We visited St. Thomas on our very first Disney cruise. This year we decided to explore something different on the island. We took a short walk through the shopping area to take a sky tram to Paradise Point. It was so awesome! There was a restaurant and some shops at the top. The view from up there was phenomenal as well! I think everyone was glad we took the trek. After a snack up high, we headed back to the boat for some swimming before dinner. This was prince & princess night and the boys' outfits did not disappoint! Thankfully, they even posed for a few pics in them.

Scoping out St. Thomas from our verandah

St. Thomas

Heading up to Paradise Point

At the top!

Amazing view of the boat

Some fun photo ops

Look who Maddon found by the pool...

This boy loves ice cream!

Exhausting day

Beautiful sunset

Mommy's princes

We had one last day at sea and it was filled with more characters, swimming, and ice cream! We also checked out "toddler time" which turned out to be a blast for both boys! After dinner Maddon spent some time with gram while Mase hung out at the kids club again. The rest of us went to one of our favorite bars to get our signature light up drinks!

Toddler time

Doc

Ice cream followed by poolside snooze

Skyline

The last day is always bittersweet. It is the best port of call, Castaway Cay, but also means that the trip is almost over. This year three of us did the Castaway Cay 5K for the first time. Then we headed back to the boat to pick up gram and the boys for some fun in the sun! This was the first time that we visited the island when it was decorated for Christmas. There was even a snow machine! Everyone thought it was pretty cool and it made for some cool photo ops.