We have just returned from a wonderful half term holiday to Florida, encompassing a week long cruise aboard the Disney Fantasy cruise ship. This was our fourth Disney cruise and our second aboard the Disney Fantasy, although the first time was five years ago, so the children were much younger!
At this time of year the Disney cruises have a Halloween on the High Seas theme, and this itinerary was a special 8 night cruise stopping at St. Kitts, Antigua, Puerto Rico and Castaway Cay, Disney's private island in the Bahamas.
With each Disney cruise we have entered into the spirit of it a little more. This time we increased the number of magnets on our door, updating the Olaf that we've used before with some Halloween accessories. I made a Fish Extender to take part in an organised gift exchange, we also took part in a postcard swap and an ornament exchange. On our door I hung a pin trading board and a treat holder filled with pencils which was very popular. We spent quite a lot of time walking around the corridors delivering gifts as I did them over several days, and it was really fun to see how creative people get when it comes to decorating their door. It's definitely worth having a look if you find yourself aboard a Disney cruise ship!
Related post - Crafting for a Halloween on the High Seas Disney cruise
Castaway Cay is one of my favourite places in the whole world, so I was very excited to have the chance to visit again. This time I decided at the last minute to enter the Castaway Cay 5K run which takes place first thing on the island, even though I hadn't packed proper running clothes or shoes. It was so hot that most people were walking it anyway - I ran a fair portion of it but the heat was so intense it was very hard work! Then we purchased a package each which included snorkel equipment hire, bike rental and a rubber ring, so it turned into quite an exhausting day! The bike hire was really good as it meant that we could see a bit more of the island, and the snorkelling was amazing. You could swim really far from the shore but not be too deep, and there were plenty of objects placed in the water to look at as well as the fantastic sea life including tropical fish and rays.
The photo below was taken just as we were about to sail away from Castaway Cay, I must confess that I had tears in my eyes as the ship rotated through it's repertoire of different horn sounds!
For this cruise, now that the children are aged 10 and 8, we felt comfortable giving them a little more freedom around the ship. They are both old enough to sign themselves in and out of the kids club, although unfortunately they don't like it so only spent about five minutes in there! They took themselves off to get ice cream from the self service machine on the pool deck and we even played hide and seek around the ship. Each room comes with two portable phones that you can use to call each other and the stateroom, so they took one and we had the other, and they gave us clues as to where to find them!
I was very glad to find that Mia in particular was still excited to see the Princesses and other characters. As one of our Fish Extender gifts we received a blank photo frame which we could use to collect autographs, something that we've not done before. She loved seeing all the different signatures and it will make a great keepsake.
Once again we had an amazing cruise with Disney! We didn't book the next one on board this time but we did pay a deposit for a placeholder which means that we can receive the same discount on our next cruise, so who knows, with a bit of luck maybe there will be another Disney cruise in my future!
We are lucky enough to have cruised three times with Disney in the past. You can read about our previous Disney cruises via the links below:
Our Caribbean cruise on the Disney Fantasy (2013)
Our cruise to Norway aboard the Disney Magic (2016)
A second cruise through the Norwegian Fjords on the Disney Magic (2018)
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