Trip Report Finally Back in Our Happy Place. A Three Week Trip With a Cruise Included

We’ve been back for just over a week from what was a wonderful three weeks. There were a few hiccups, but for the most part Disney World was just as we remembered it.

This trip was me and my two youngest daughters, Alice (18) and Lexi (15)

We stayed at Pop Century from July 7th-20th, then sailed on the Disney Magic from July 20th-25th, then French Quarter for the last three nights, July 25th-28th. For the Pop Century part of the trip we had the UK 14 day park tickets which included the waterparks.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 20th July (cont)

We finished lunch just before 1.30 which is the time that rooms are ready on Disney ships. I’d booked a guaranteed ocean view state room, where it’s a bit cheaper if you don’t pick your own room, and we were allocated 2626. It was the first time we didn’t have a verandah on a cruise, I didn’t think we’d have much use for one on a short cruise with two island days so opted for the less expensive ocean view room. It was the lowest on a ship we’d been, previously we hadn’t been lower than deck 6.

The layout of the room was the same as verandah rooms

Not much of a view yet

I haven’t seen one of these hairdryers for a long time. There was a regular hairdryer in a drawer as well

Piglet got comfy

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 20th July (cont)

Once we’d dropped our bags in the room, we went exploring

We decided to visit the kids clubs as it was open house there

Making sure the children wash their hands properly, a lot of adults could do with these

Pirate treasures

 

[RememberWhen]

I’m very interested to hear your opinion of an ocean view vs verandah. We’ve never cruised without a verandah. While I love it, I’m convinced I could manage just fine in an inside room. DW is not at all convinced.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

I’m very interested to hear your opinion of an ocean view vs verandah. We’ve never cruised without a verandah. While I love it, I’m convinced I could manage just fine in an inside room. DW is not at all convinced.

I missed the verandah a lot. I’m very much an outside person on a ship, I love just sitting and looking at the sea, and sometimes I need to be outside without lots of other people around. I wouldn’t say I would never sail again without a verandah, the price difference can be huge sometimes, but I would prefer to have one.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 20th July (cont)

More exploring in the kids club

Even the toilets are themed

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 20th July (cont)

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 20th July (cont)

We had some time before the muster drill so explored a bit more

The atrium is much smaller than the Dream/Fantasy but still beautiful

Love this photo of Walt, it looks a bit like he is on the ship looking down on the atrium

One of my favourite places on Disney ships, deck 4

Not as pretty as our ship

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 20th July (cont)

Photo recreation

We popped in the pub

Very fancy elevators

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 20th July (cont)

After the muster drill Lexi wanted to check out the Vibe teen club, and that was pretty much the last we saw of her apart from dinner times . Alice and I went back to the room, the late night and early morning had caught up with us and we really needed a nap. I only had a short nap and then did some unpacking, Alice absolutely crashed and I had to wake her up to go to the theatre show.

The show that night was Twice Charmed: An Original Twist on the Cinderella Story

A quick photo before we put our phones away

The show was … fine. Probably my least favourite of any shows I’ve seen on a ship. It wasn’t bad it’s just that the other shows are so good.

What I did like was how strict they were with phone usage/photography during the show. A couple of times I saw a crew member run down the aisles to tell someone to put their phones away

Dinner was in Lumiere’s, the dining room just off the atrium and it had a very similar feeling to Royal Palace/Court on other ships

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 20th July (cont)

It was the Let the Magic Begin menu rather than the regular Lumiere’s menu, I’ve had this a few times on the first night of a cruise

To start, smoked salmon for Alice and Calamari for Lexi and I

I also had the spinach salad

Pork Wellington for me

Halibut for Alice

And pasta for Lexi

Desserts

Crème brûlée for me

Mango cheesecake for lexi

And the chocolate bombe for Alice

Everything was delicious

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 20th July (cont)

After dinner Lexi headed to Vibe and Alice and I up to a lovely quiet pool deck

We watched some funnelvision

Heading back to our room we saw our stateroom attendant who was just about to finish her shift. In our rush to get ready for dinner after we’d seen the show we’d accidentally left the do not disturb sign on our door. She quickly dashed in to make up the beds, I felt bad for making her work so late

Obviously no bedspread/towel creations that night

I’d told Lexi to be back by midnight. I had to stay up until then because my booking window opened for my transatlantic cruise. I managed to book Palo dinner and brunch on the days that I wanted and a few drinks seminars but the Remy dessert experience that I wanted was already fully booked. Too many pearl and platinum Castaway Club members on the transatlantic that get an earlier booking window.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 21st July: Nassau

This was the fifth time we’d been on a cruise that stopped in Nassau, and the fifth time that we did not get off the ship. I have no interest in just shopping and I’m not that much of a beach person except for the Disney private islands. Instead we take advantage of the ship being much quieter.

Surprisingly Lexi was awake first, she was just going out for a run around deck 4 when I woke up. She was supposed to do some training while we were away but it had just been too hot to run up until now. I waited for Alice to wake up and we headed to Cabanas for breakfast

Breakfast view

My usual cruise breakfast, I like that DCL caters to us Brits and gives us baked beans at breakfast . No Mickey churro waffles though , apparently my experience of having them every day on last year’s transatlantic cruise was a one off.

After breakfast was a busy morning of lounging at Quiet Cove adult pool area. Alice loved that she could spend time here now

Perfectly located next to the coffee shop and the bar

At some point in the morning I popped back to our room. Our lovely room attendant had given us a towel animal and the chocolates we’d missed out on the night before (totally our fault)

The view from our room, I prefer being higher up

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

The baked beans don't quite taste like proper British ones though .