We spent the month of May refining my cancer diagnosis and arriving at a treatment plan. Then we had about a week and a half between the end of that process and the start of treatment. We had been saving for a couple of years toward a European vacation with the kids that we thought we might take this summer. We had already delayed that for a year, but we had funds available to go with that week and a half of time. In addition to that, we knew it was going to be a very abnormal summer and thought it would be nice to have a "normal" vacation before the abnormal began.
Given all that, we decided to go on a surprise Disney Cruise. We booked it just a few days before departure. We kept it a secret from the girls until 5:30 AM on the day of departure, when we had to get up to get a cab to the airport.
The cruise was a blast. I just finished editing the video and Carol saw and said "Let's go again!"
Our cruise was 4 nights in the Bahamas. We departed from Port Canaveral and the first night we sailed to Nassau, Bahamas. We spent the first full day there. We went on a short glass-bottom boat cruise as a shore activity. It was cool, although not as colorful as we hoped.
That night we sailed to Castaway Cay, which is Disney's private island in the Bahamas. It is used solely as a Disney cruise ship stop. Most of their cruises spend one day there; one of the longer cruises stops there twice.
Castaway Cay was very fun. We started the day swimming with rays. Charlotte was reluctant, but Audrey really loved it. We got to feed them out of our hands, then swim with them for quite a long time. Then we headed to the beach where we played in the water. We also used bikes to go on a jaunt around the island, including out to an observation tower from which we could see the ship in the distance.
Unfortunately somehow Charlotte and I forgot to drink all day and we both ended up seriously dehydrated and maybe with a little heat exhaustion. I of course had perfect timing and came down with a cold the day before we left on the cruise, so I was already under the weather. We both felt pretty bad that evening. Audrey and Carol went to the Pirate Party and fireworks by themselves.
Fortunately Charlotte and I recovered and were able to enjoy the rest of the cruise.
The fourth day was spent at sea, cruising oh-so-slowly back to Florida. One of the TV channels in the room showed the ship's location and speed and at times we were "sailing" at 1-2 knots! We spent the day in the pools and riding the cool Aquaduck water slide that encircles the top of the ship. We intentionally chose a cruise on the Disney Dream, one of their two new ships (the line only has four ships), solely because it has the water slide.
The crew of the ship is wonderful. Everyone was friendly and it didn't seem fake. We found out from our waiters on the last evening how little they get paid (the waiters make only tips, which you give all at once at the end of the cruise). I went online when we got home to see what the crew members think of it and all I could find was glowing reviews of working for the cruise line. Their room and board is paid, so they keep everything they make. They are also employed through the Bahamas so they pay no taxes. In fact, it occurred to me later that they probably can't even get off the ship in Florida - they probably don't have US visas. They sign up to work 14 hours per day 7 days per week for 6 months at a time, and they still say it's the best thing they ever did. Mostly they love working with a crew that is from all over the world, and believe it or not, helping make families' dreams come true. They actually say that!
At an hourly rate it was the most expensive vacation we've ever taken but it felt worth it to us. We all had so much fun. We're planning to do it again when the girls are perhaps 12 and 14 - there are tween and teen clubs on the ship that the girls want to be able to hang out in next time.
Click on the links below the picture for the photo album/slide show and the separate link for the video.
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