Adventure In The Great Wide Somewhere

Disney Cruise Line Pronunciation /ˈdɪzni  kruːz  laɪn/ Noun 1.) A magical sea voyage, especially taken for the pleasure of enjoying a wonderful award winning vacation. 2.) A fantasy often appearing on a Disney fan's bucket list, right under "spend the night in the Cinderella Castle Suite." 3.) A dream come true.  A helping hand before you set sail on your first cruise! If you've decided to pull a fairy godmother and Bibbiddi Bobbiddi Boo this fantasy into being, let's start you off with a few helpful hints: What I wished I knew before my first cruise: Top Ten Things to Know Before Your First Disney Cruise Top 10 More Things to Know Before Your 1st Disney Cruise Another 10 Things to Know Before Your 1st Disney Cruise Embarkation Day 101 Everything that happens between hopping a shuttle to the cruise terminal and dinner the first evening. Debarkation Three different ways to exit your cruise, from the speed demon to dragging your feet. Wh...

Two years into this blog and I've gained a lot of friends, a lot of tips and adventured all over in the process! Rather than wrapping out the year with a whimper, I'm looking back on the top ten posts of 2014.  (Honestly who doesn't love a good list?)  You've made it through all of this year's obstacles, time to celebrate! Can you think of a better way to launch into a brand new year than with a little extra pixie dust? If you missed them the first time around, give them a click. If you've already read them all, please skip down to the comments and let me know which one you liked the most! 10.) The Beginner's Guide to Disney Cruise Line Ever wonder exactly how you get from "I think it might be nice to actually try out a Disney Cruise" to actually counting down the days until embarkation? This is the least you need to know to figure out the when and how of booking and packing. It's a good place to start. 9.) Dollars and Sense | I...

I'm kicking off this fall's Thankful Thursday series with a list of ten things I'm thankful for...not the big obvious things like my husband or my children or my house. Just ten little things I'm often inclined to over look but would definitely miss if they weren't there anymore.     10. Spellcheck As much as Siri spends a lot of time twisting around my words like ice cream melting in the August sun, I really appreciate knowing that most of my words will be filtered before I send them out into cyberspace.   9. Air Conditioning In Texas, air conditioning makes life much more pleasant for six months out of the year.   8. Sharp Number Two Pencils The smell, the color, the way the graphite smears on paper, everything about the number two pencil is wonderful. Unless the eraser is missing. Then it's just sad and frustrating. Part of the loveliness of the pencil is the ability to erase easily and nearly completely.   7. Beautif...

Since apparently 10 Things To Know Before Your First Cruise and 10 MORE Things To Know Before Your First Cruise didn't quite touch on everything...   here are another top ten things to know before your first Disney Cruise Line experience. Pin Trading Although not quite as popular as it is in the parks, pin trading is alive and well on the high seas. Servers greeting outside the restaurants often sport pin lanyards. Pins exclusive to DCL are available in the shops (ask and they may even pull out the pin book for trading). Keep an eye on your navigator for officer pin trading events.  Ready with her pins! Lanyards for everyone! (Who is old enough to carry a room card.) Yes there are lovely lanyards sold in the shops on the ship if you forget. Your dollar store probably also carries some lovely lanyards and Disneystore.com carries quite a rotating selection. There isn't really a reason to carry a purse, as your key to the world card will be accepted everywh...

As I said the other day , I recently had reason to consider what I would want to know before my first cruise. Well, if something is worth doing it is worth overdoing. How about another ten? 1.) Do I Really Need A Passport? Assuming you don't need a passport to reach your port of embarkation (say heading to Barcelona for a Mediterranean cruise), is a passport necessary? Don't Leave Home Without It? Passports are recommended (as is trip insurance) although on a closed loop cruise, neither is currently required and I've cruised with friends who were perfectly happy to cruise on other approved forms of proof of citizenship. As always, things are subject to change. I wouldn't cruise without, but it's about your comfort level with risk. (The risk is if something happened and you needed to fly back to the states, how would you handle that without a passport?) So maybe you need one. 2.) Get The Pool and Slides To Yourself. If you pack swim...

After already selecting a ship, the best date and itinerary for your dream vacation, after all of the major travel arrangements, hotels and airfare settled into place, after port adventures, spa appointments and adult exclusive dining already filled you itinerary what next? What next? A friends of mine recently spent a bit of time picking my brain on pirate night and port adventures and eventually reached a point where she asked me, "What would you want to know if it were your first cruise?" I pulled up short. What would I want to know? Where would I start? What next? I love lists, so... 1.) What do I wear? Ball gowns and tiaras? Of course! Formal, Semi-Formal, Cruise Casual, Optional Dress Up, or Pirate will be noted as the evening attire on the front corner of your Personal Navigator each day. Although Disney lists limits on dress (no swimwear in the dining rooms, etc.) here on their website, what exactly do people "normally" w...

Before taking to the high seas, fear of seasickness stood between me and enjoying anticipating the my first taste of Disney Cruise Line. Mal de Mer held the potential of ruining our first child free vacation in years. Not that either of us knew for certain if we would even experience seasickness. As a kid, I got carsick at every turn practically, but at least I grew out of that and thankfully never got airsick. IMAX movies and the planetarium usually involved large parts where I would close my eyes to make the moving stop. Once I did get pregnant, morning sickness and vertigo became my new best friends. The one bright and shining spot in my gastronomic fortitude? Amusement park rides and foods that make others lose their lunch.  I gleefully polished off a funnel cake and hopped right on Mission: Space or finished off a cotton candy and hopped into a teacup at the Mad Tea Party. Not the slightest problem. I hoped my stomach believed the Wonder qualified as a ride. I p...

Much like spending your nights at Walt Disney World sleeping at the Grand Floridian in a Club Level room with a theme park view at rack rate, the Disney Fantasy Royal Suite price make these vacations seem astronomically expensive. And, oddly enough, nearly the same prices for the Walt Disney World high end packages as the Disney Cruise Line suites. They don't have to be ridiculously expensive and in many cases can even be more affordable for the average American family than a trip to Walt Disney World.  Over the years I've used varying tips and tricks to minimize my vacation expenditure so that I can enjoy a few more excursions, pedicures and Cove Café drinks without the bills following me long after the pixie dust settles. All of the below tips are either things I or one of my friends have successfully utilized, but as always, your mileage may vary. My Top Ten Fourteen DCL Dollar Stretching Tips: 14.) Get Hired By Mickey Cast member discounts can really save y...

A vegan mom, a dairy allergic preschooler, and a gluten intolerant kindergartner step onto a cruise ship ... No, this isn't the setup to a joke, but rather my life last November. Would we starve? Would we enjoy any of the allergy-free offerings? Would we all live on steamed vegetables for seven days straight? If there is one thing Disney does exceptionally well, it is their world-renowned customer service and nowhere does this Disney service shine more than in the instance of special needs. Given our various diets, going out to eat is a bit hazardous at best. When cruising hundreds of miles off shore, I had to go with a company I trusted to make that experience not only safe but downright magical. I had cruised with Disney Cruise Line (DCL) sans kids prior to becoming vegan, but after three allergy-free cruises, I've learned a thing or ten… My Tips for a Safe and Sound Allergy-Free Cruise 1.) Make the cruise line take note. I make sure each of our dining differenc...

I sat drenched in stale sweat, tired and sore from carrying my four year old brother on my back as we trudged from the last ride to our appointed parade and fireworks positions. Briefly resting on the curb at the hub as we pushed through our tenth hour in the parks, my slightly melted Reeboks tipped up to allow my feet to uncramp into a more natural position. As the eldest of four, my dual roles as carrier and occasional navigator helped our military strike team of "vacationers" hit every single ride in the Magic Kingdom in clockwise order, hopefully without contributing to the inevitable whining of the younger kids in a single day. Several years later, on the occasion of our Disneymoon, my new husband came away amazed and shocked that you can hit almost everything in any given park in a single day as he hadn't been raised in a " Dumbo or Die " style Disney family. As a matter of fact, he hadn't even heard of a Disney Commando or that this vacationi...