Disney Cruise Day 1

Every trip has to start somewhere. Ours starts under airport lights, surrounded by rolling suitcases, and friendly smiles. 

The crew assembled at the airport, bags packed and spirits high. The mission: get ourselves to a Disney cruise. The obstacle: two connecting flights and an entire day devoted to the glamorous business of simply getting there.

Lunch by one gate. Dinner by another. Eat, pack up, move. Check the board. Find the next gate. Board the plane. Get off the plane. Repeat.

Eventually, we traded airplanes for a bus and watched the airport disappear behind us as we made our way to the hotel. Nothing fancy tonight. Just tired travelers, full stomachs, heavy bags, and the knowledge that the real adventure is waiting just beyond tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow, we board the ship.  Tonight, we sleep. Then we sail away. 

Disney Cruise Day 2

First day on the cruise ship, and we did what you’re supposed to do when aboard a floating city. We wandered.
No agenda. No hurry. Just roaming the decks, seeing where the noise, food, and general weirdness took us.
Eventually, we stumbled into the Castaway Stayaway Party, a wonderfully chaotic celebration with music, characters, and enough energy to remind you that, yes, you are still very much on vacation.
Then came the Haunted Pumpkin Tree, looming over everything with that perfect mix of spooky and ridiculous. Because apparently even at sea, the pumpkins have stories to tell.
Somewhere along the way, we traded the open decks for a theater seat and caught the Broadway style production. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.
Then, because every respectable day of wandering eventually leads to food, we ate. Dinner came with a little animated magic of its own. Plates arrived, characters came to life, and the whole wonderfully over the top experience somehow made perfect sense on a cruise ship.
A little spooky. A little Broadway. A lot of food. And plenty of aimless wandering.
Not a bad day at sea.

Disney Cruise Day 3

Breakfast started at the famous Cabanas, because no Disney cruise morning is complete without Mickey-shaped waffles. And who are we to argue with tradition?

Fed and properly caffeinated, we got off the ship and headed for Castaway Cay. We found a couple of seats, dropped our stuff, and went straight for the water. It was hot, we needed to cool off, and the ocean was calling.

Eventually, we dragged ourselves out of paradise and made our way back to the ship. A little rest was necessary because the day was far from over.

Next up: Halloween.

We got dressed, grabbed trick-or-treat bags, and hit the ship for some trick-or-treating. Candy in hand, we joined Mickey and friends for the Halloween dance party. Nothing says vacation quite like dancing with a giant mouse in costume in the middle of the Caribbean.

Then came our dinner: 8:15 p.m. By that point, we had earned every bite.

And somehow, we still weren’t done. We finished the night shopping, wandering around the ship, and taking photos with as many Disney characters as we could find.

Disney Cruise Day 4

We wake up, and everyone is feeling it.

Yes, this is a vacation. But apparently, having this much fun is exhausting work. The miles between breakfast, beaches, shows, dinners, and whatever adventure comes next are starting to add up. Still, nobody is complaining. Much.

Today’s destination is Disney Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point.

Campers and staff fueled up at breakfast before making their way to the galley, ready to disembark and trade the ship for a little island life. The morning greeted us with a shower, not exactly the postcard perfect welcome we had ordered, but by lunchtime the clouds had moved on and the Caribbean had decided to show off.

The sun came out. The water turned that almost unbelievable shade of turquoise. Suddenly, you could see straight through it. Schools of fish darting below the surface, stingrays gliding along like they owned the place, and, if that wasn’t enough, a turtle made an appearance.

Not a bad afternoon.  Back aboard, it was time for a different kind of adventure.  Pirate night.

Everyone dressed for the occasion before heading off to see Frozen. After the show came photos, laughter, and a full scale pirate takeover at dinner. Somewhere along the way, the Camp Courageous crew stopped being passengers and became the captains of the vessel. At least in our minds, and really, that’s what matters.

We finished the night wandering the ship, taking in the sights and sounds and trying to squeeze every last bit out of the day.

Tomorrow, we’ll be back on the open water, heading toward land and the inevitable return to reality.  But that’s tomorrow. Tonight, the ship is ours. The sea stretches out into the darkness. We’re tired, sun soaked, probably a little overfed, and still not quite ready for any of this to end.

So we’ll enjoy every minute we have left.  Living that island time.

Disney Cruise Day 5

Well, that’s it. The end of the ship.

Tomorrow we get off, trade the ocean for solid ground, and head back to Iowa, and we’re going to miss this place.  But that’s tomorrow’s problem.

Tonight, we did what you’re supposed to do on the last night of a trip: squeezed every last drop out of it. We hit the hot tubs. Took another run at the AquaDuck. Watched Disney Believe. Ate ice cream far more times than any reasonable person should. Finished the last-minute shopping and wandered around hunting down every character we could find for one more photo.

No schedules left to worry about. No ports to get to. Just one last night aboard.

We ended it the right way. Around a table, having dinner together, talking about the week we’d just lived.

Then it was back to the rooms. Half-packed suitcases. Clothes everywhere. Souvenirs that somehow have to fit into bags that were already full when we got here.

Tomorrow, Iowa.  But tonight?  We’re still on the ship. And we’re going to enjoy every minute we have left.

Disney Cruise Day 6

Going home.

Getting off the ship was almost too easy. After days of waking up aboard this floating city, eating too much, seeing too much, and getting accustomed to the strange rhythm of life at sea, suddenly it was over.

We had one last breakfast, gathered our things, and walked off the ship. Just like that. No ceremony. No dramatic farewell. One minute you’re on vacation, the next you’re standing beside a bus with your luggage, heading toward Orlando International Airport and the decidedly less glamorous business of getting home.

The bus ride gave us time to watch Florida roll past the windows. Eventually, we reached the airport, unloaded the mountain of luggage we’d somehow accumulated, and made our way toward the check-in counter.

The person working the front counter was fantastic. Friendly, helpful, efficient. It’s the type of service you appreciate even more when you’re tired, carrying too many bags, and staring down two flights before you’ll see your own bed again.

Two flights later, we finally touched down back home. And that was it.

The trip that had seemed so far away for so long was suddenly behind us. The ship, the meals, the ports, the laughs, the long days and late nights, all of it had become something we’d now talk about instead of something we were living.

We collected our luggage one last time, said our goodbyes, and headed our separate ways.

Just tired travelers going home, carrying dirty laundry, souvenirs, photographs, and a few more stories than we had when we left.

We called it a night.  And after everything we’d seen and everywhere we’d been, home felt pretty damn good.