What would be the perfect Christmas gift this year?? Why not the gift of travel?! The opportunities for travel are plenty and I am forever grateful and blessed to travel as much as I can, with my kids in tow to experience all the wonders of travel. And especially as a Disney Vacation Specialist, we have been fortunate enough to visit Disneyland in March, Walt Disney World in August, and a Disney cruise in December. That's a whole lot of Disney vacations in one year! And because of these awesome opportunities, we have had some pretty amazing vacations that my kids will remember for years to come, instead of more "stuff", which we have way too much of anyway!
So, here is a quick overview of our recent Disney cruise experience to the Bahamas, aboard the upgraded and newly refurbished Disney Wonder! The Disney Wonder came out of dry dock in November and began her new season sailing out of Galveston, Texas to the Caribbean and the Bahamas, which was the perfect opportunity for me to explore the updates on the Wonder, explore Castaway Cay, Disney's private island, and visit Atlantis, Paradise Island at Nassau for potential future vacations for clients.
Where to stay in Galveston:
Disney partner hotels for cruises departing out of Galveston include the Marriott at George Bush International Airport in Houston, or the San Luis Resort in Galveston. If you book your pre or post hotel stay with Disney, you can arrange shuttle transportation with Disney to get you from the airport to the port and back. If you book your hotel stay elsewhere, then you will need to make your own arrangements for transportation to the port. The shuttle from Disney is great as the shuttle ride is about 1.5 hours from George Bush International Airport to Galveston, but there is Wi-Fi onboard, and you can watch Disney movies the whole time so it doesn't feel long at all. If you don't book with Disney, a great shuttle option is with Galveston Express, which has pre-booked shuttle times or private transfer options for small groups.
The San Luis Resort Spa & Conference Center in Galveston Island is where we stayed for our pre-cruise night. It is a beautiful resort that overlooks the Gulf of Mexico.
So, here is a quick overview of our recent Disney cruise experience to the Bahamas, aboard the upgraded and newly refurbished Disney Wonder! The Disney Wonder came out of dry dock in November and began her new season sailing out of Galveston, Texas to the Caribbean and the Bahamas, which was the perfect opportunity for me to explore the updates on the Wonder, explore Castaway Cay, Disney's private island, and visit Atlantis, Paradise Island at Nassau for potential future vacations for clients.
Where to stay in Galveston:
Disney partner hotels for cruises departing out of Galveston include the Marriott at George Bush International Airport in Houston, or the San Luis Resort in Galveston. If you book your pre or post hotel stay with Disney, you can arrange shuttle transportation with Disney to get you from the airport to the port and back. If you book your hotel stay elsewhere, then you will need to make your own arrangements for transportation to the port. The shuttle from Disney is great as the shuttle ride is about 1.5 hours from George Bush International Airport to Galveston, but there is Wi-Fi onboard, and you can watch Disney movies the whole time so it doesn't feel long at all. If you don't book with Disney, a great shuttle option is with Galveston Express, which has pre-booked shuttle times or private transfer options for small groups.
The San Luis Resort Spa & Conference Center in Galveston Island is where we stayed for our pre-cruise night. It is a beautiful resort that overlooks the Gulf of Mexico.
 View from our room, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico |  View from the front of our room, Disney Wonder in the distance |
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Other highly recommended hotels to stay in Galveston include the Hilton Galveston Island and the Holiday Inn Galveston, both which are located on either side of the San Luis Resort and all are a part of the same overall management group. Another popular and highly recommended hotel is the Hotel Galvez and Spa, which is located closer to the port so you get a great view of the incoming ships! Complimentary shuttle transportation to the port is available from all these hotels. Many offer cruise and park stays to park a car, or you can park at the cruise terminal, with savings if you prepurchase your cruise terminal parking.
Our cruise departs at 4:00pm with a sail away party and heads off to sea for the next 36 hours. This is the perfect opportunity to explore the ship, and get to know your surroundings. It wouldn't be a very Merrytime cruise without Christmas decor!
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While at sea, the first full night onboard is usually formal night. This is a fantastic opportunity to get dressed up and there are plenty of opportunities onboard for family photos in your best attire! With the theme of the Golden Mickeys, it's Disney's red carpet affair celebrating the history and highlights in Disney animation and cinema, with an impressive live theatre musical show.
First stop, Key West, Florida!
It's a cute little town, perfect for walking around and exploring the sights. Mallory Square is full of trinket and souvenir shopping, conch sea shells, pirate gear and Take bicycle tour of the city, visit Ernest Hemingway museum or the Little White House of President Truman and make sure you try some key lime pie! Plus, don't forget to visit the Southernmost point of the continental USA, where you are only 90 miles from Cuba.
It's a cute little town, perfect for walking around and exploring the sights. Mallory Square is full of trinket and souvenir shopping, conch sea shells, pirate gear and Take bicycle tour of the city, visit Ernest Hemingway museum or the Little White House of President Truman and make sure you try some key lime pie! Plus, don't forget to visit the Southernmost point of the continental USA, where you are only 90 miles from Cuba.
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Castaway Cay, Disney's private island in the Bahamas and the highlight of most tropical Disney cruises!! It is a beautiful private island and the most enjoyable day of the whole cruise!
Castaway Cay 5K
One of the optional "excursions" (although it is not really an excursion) is the Castaway Cay 5K! It's not an excursion you can pre-book, but you can head straight to port adventures or guest services as soon as your board to register for the race. It is a fun way to enjoy the island and the 5K is open to all guests 10 and older, although I saw a few little kids running the 5K as well! Everyone who registers for the race receives the Castaway Cay 5K medal so kids younger than 10 can certainly run or walk the 5K but they won't receive the medal. It is not a timed race so you can walk or run the distance on your own time. (But it is hot!)
Castaway Cay 5K
One of the optional "excursions" (although it is not really an excursion) is the Castaway Cay 5K! It's not an excursion you can pre-book, but you can head straight to port adventures or guest services as soon as your board to register for the race. It is a fun way to enjoy the island and the 5K is open to all guests 10 and older, although I saw a few little kids running the 5K as well! Everyone who registers for the race receives the Castaway Cay 5K medal so kids younger than 10 can certainly run or walk the 5K but they won't receive the medal. It is not a timed race so you can walk or run the distance on your own time. (But it is hot!)
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The island has something for everyone, including an onsite kids club, Scuttles Cove, for the little kids if you want to drop them off. There are family beach areas, snorkeling lagoons, the Pelican Plunge water slide area and water play areas for younger kids. Optional excursions you can book include stingray adventures, tubes and float rentals, bicycle rentals, or head to the adults only area at Serenity Beach for a tranquil beach experience. Private cabanas are also available to rent. There is also a post office on the island where you can send mail from Castaway Cay to where you want to send mail but be warned, it will be sent on Bahamian time!
Lunch is served on the island with a BBQ and an all you can eat ice cream station for dessert. There are a couple of shops on the island with unique apparel and souvenirs that are only found on the island itself so if you want a Castaway Cay souvenir of some kind, you can only find it at the shops on the island.
Lunch is served on the island with a BBQ and an all you can eat ice cream station for dessert. There are a couple of shops on the island with unique apparel and souvenirs that are only found on the island itself so if you want a Castaway Cay souvenir of some kind, you can only find it at the shops on the island.
   Rent a bicycle to explore the island  Private cabanas are available to rent  Serenity Bay (adult only area) |    Bike and running trail  This is Castaway Cay in the Bahamas  Serenity Bay beach (adult only) |
Your Castaway Cay beach day ends with a pirate party, Mickey's Pirates in the Caribbean Party! Feast on a pirate themed menu, and join the deck party onboard with all the characters in their pirate gear, finishing off with fireworks in the sky! It's a fun event where many guests get all dressed up in pirate gear, and although it is not mandatory to dress up, it's so much fun!
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Our third port was Nassau, Bahamas and our excursion was to visit Atlantis, Paradise Island! There are lots of varying excursions you can choose for Atlantis, including swimming with dolphins, stingray adventures, Aquaventure access (includes access to their waterparks), aquarium and marine tour or spend a day at the Atlantis beach.
Atlantis, Paradise Island is such a huge resort and we were only able to explore about half the resort! There is so much to do there that it deserves its own post! (coming soon!)
Atlantis, Paradise Island is such a huge resort and we were only able to explore about half the resort! There is so much to do there that it deserves its own post! (coming soon!)
And it's not everyday you get to see two Disney ships docked at the same port! There were 5 ships docked in Nassau that day, including both the Disney Wonder and the Disney Dream. When docked beside each other, you can clearly see the size difference between the two ships!
After three port days exploring Key West, Florida, Castaway Cay, and Nassau, we had two full days at sea to relax, enjoy the ship activites, all the great shows onboard and take it easy. Enjoy some spa time at the Senses Spa, or take in the pilates and yoga classes offered at the fitness center, which really helped with my tight muscles after the 5K and bike ride on Castaway Cay!
One of our most favourite things to do is watch movies and there are plenty of opportunities to watch first run movies in the theatre onboard. Usually after dinner (we had the late seating so dinner was at 8:15pm), we would got catch some characters for photos and autgraphs and then go get popcorn in our refillable popcorn bucket for refill, head to deck 9 to get some drinks and ice cream and head back to our stateroom for movies in our room or head to the movie theatre for a late night movie. All Disney first run movies play onboard the ship!
One of our highlights for this cruise was to attend the midnight premiere of Star Wars Rogue One! Any new Disney movie that premieres on land, will premiere on the ship at one minute past midnight on the premiere date! So we were lucky and stayed up to watch Star Wars Rogue One the night before we disembarked the cruise and it was absolutely worth it!
One of our highlights for this cruise was to attend the midnight premiere of Star Wars Rogue One! Any new Disney movie that premieres on land, will premiere on the ship at one minute past midnight on the premiere date! So we were lucky and stayed up to watch Star Wars Rogue One the night before we disembarked the cruise and it was absolutely worth it!
 With Cruise Director, Darren at the Star Wars premiere aboard the Disney Wonder |  Midnight pajama party for the Star Wars Rogue One premiere |
Our Disney cruise was a jam packed, kickass vacation that felt like more than 7 days! But it is full of so many memories for me and my kids that they will have forever. It's one of the many things we love about Disney and Disney vacations and it is why I choose to help people plan such amazing and memorable vacations. If you want help in planning your next vacation, let me know! I would love the opportunity to help!
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