Disney Cruise!

On November 15, we embarked on our first cruise along with Andrew.  We went with two friends of ours who have twins, so all in all, it was four adults and three babies.  Quite a handful!  Four adults and three babies in a single minivan from Atlanta to Florida and back!  The friend we went with works for Delta Airlines, and they get some ridiculous deals on travel.  This whole trip for the three of us cost a fraction off what it would normally cost for one of us to do it, and almost everything was included.  We even got an oceanview room with a balcony so we could sit outside.

We went on the Disney Dream, a fairly new cruise ship which is simply unreal.  It's amazing what they can do on boats nowadays, and how BIG they are.  This one had three swimming pools, a water-tube slide that went out over the side of the ship, numerous restaurants and clubs, a full-size theater with some incredible productions, and the best part: a nursery where you can drop the kids off for a few hours and they will feed them, change them, play with them, and put them down for naps.  This gives the adults a little free time.

We boarded on Thursday the 15th and spent the day checking out the ship, eating, and meeting characters as we sailed to Nassau.  On Friday morning, we were in Nassau.  We only got off the ship long enough to say that we got off the ship, walked around for about 30 minutes, then got back on.  We spent the day playing at the pool, and most importantly, the Nemo's Reef splash pad.  Andrew LOVED the splash pad, as you will see in some photos below.  It was constant smiles, laughter, and squeals. 

That night was pirate night, and everyone on the ship was dressed in pirate's attire, and there were pirate themed shows and even fireworks out in the ocean.  We thought Andrew would be terrified of the fireworks since loud noises tend to freak him out, but he seemed to enjoy them.

Andrew watching the fireworks.

Ready for Pirate Night.

That evening we sailed to Disney's private island, Castaway Cay, where we arrived Saturday morning. We all got off the boat to take the babies to the beach, but it rained all morning.  We were hoping to get Andrew into the ocean, but it was just cold and dreary.  By late morning, we had nursery time booked so that the adults could hit the beach for some relaxation.  

Andrew's first visit to the beach.

Relaxing in a hammock.

After a fun day at the beach, we started sailing again back to Florida.

Each night on the cruise, we went to a big show in the theater (it's amazing the kind of production they can do on a boat!) followed by dinner.  The kids usually went to the nursery for dinner time so that the adults could enjoy dinner two-handed.

Andrew fell asleep in the theater often
after long, fun days!

Dinners are pre-arranged, so they knew we
had children with us (even though we didn't
bring them to dinner).  Each kid had a
personalized cup waiting for them each night.

Andrew was popular in the nursery.
He even won an award!!

The balcony of our room was enclosed
so that Andrew could play out there safely.
This was taken at sunrise as we sailed into Nassau.