Ready to talk about a magical holiday? This one exceeded all of our expectations (especially mine).

We had heard great things. Mostly: “Magical but expensive.” And both were true 🙂 but the minute we stepped on the boat all of the Disney magic washed over us.

The Disney cruise line only departs from 18 places around the world, so we felt so lucky that they departed just a 15 min drive from our house in Melbourne.

This one was a 4 day cruise leaving from Melbourne, with a stop in Hobart, Tasmania (not that it mattered…we weren’t going to get off and miss a day of the fun).

And it was especially special because my mom was in town and she got to join us — all five of us enjoying the wonderful world of Disney!

Even the entry hall felt special…and we weren’t even on the boat yet!

When we walked onto the boat, they announced our family and there was Mickey, standing on the stairs waving at us! As a Disney-infatuated kid, I think I was more awestruck than anyone else.

We quickly made it up to the deck on Level 9 to check out the ship and join in the Sail Away party. Of course, everything with Disney is a musical, dancing party…complete with characters!

Characters

By far the best part of the Disney cruise (for me…and maybe the girls?) was seeing all the characters. We could stand in line to meet them individually, like we did for a few — quickly snagging Minnie/Donald and Mickey/Goofy the first day.

But then we also saw them just wandering around the ship…all the time! SO MANY special character encounters!

And one day Goofy took extra time to hang out and dance with the girls.

Perhaps the most special character encounters were seeing the Disney princesses. Justin stayed up late one night a few months earlier to be right on time to book a special meeting with each of the Disney princesses. We got to meet Belle, Ariel, Cinderella and Tiana. Each of them were lovely and kind to the girls, bending down and sitting with them and getting into all sorts of conversation, like, “Can we see your glass slippers?” We loved seeing the girls as little “mini-me’s” with Belle and Cinderella. I will forever remember these images in my head.

Even Bluey and Bingo were on board!

And the grown ups loved the characters too!

The food

Like all cruises, the food was also very special. We loved having a buffet breakfast and lunch every day and then eating at a different restaurant for a sit-down dinner every night. We had two amazing servers (Dede and Feby) who followed us to each restaurant and were so lovely with the girls — even remembering their special preferences for milk or a booster seat or decaf coffee for us after dinner).

Each restaurant had entertainment during the dinner, which made it extra fun. The first night we ate at Tiana’s Place where they had a New Orleans jazz band and dancing around the room with mardi gras necklaces.

The second and third night we at at Triton’s place. The second night the Disney characters came in to perform (cool!!) and the third night the waitstaff put on a dance and parade.

Our last night was at the Animator’s Palette, where upon arriving we drew our own littler person (within pre, set lines) and then the “show” was them making each of our drawings come to life in a complete animation. It was incredible!

Dressing the part

I knew that all the Disney gear and ears would be so costly on-board, so I ordered and packed ALL their Disney costumes and even bought some new Disney ears for them (and us). We wore them proudly everyday!

The shows

Each night they put on an incredible show. We had the early dinner seating so we went to the later show. We’d go about 30 min early to get good seats which was so worth it since the shows were AMAZING!

The first night was The Golden Mickeys, a review of some of our fav Disney songs. The second night was the live show of Frozen, which was definitely as incredible as you’d expect it to be — complete with snow falling down on us at the end!

The third and fourth nights they did live shows on the deck. They were quite late so the girls went to bed and mom stayed in the room so that Justin and I could check them out. The fourth night was a live action Marvel show and the fifth night was a live pirate show with all the characters and fireworks.

The final night was a live show back in the theatre, which they said won an award for one of the best stage shows on a cruise ship. It was a journey of a girl through the different Disney stories and the production quality and performances were really incredible. Very impressive.

Our days

Our days were filled with character interactions, kids club activities, movies up on the deck, soft serve and lots of dancing.

And Disney coffee…of course.

And lots of dancing! Since it was Juliette’s birthday, she got to celebrate the entire trip!

Our room

For our room, we chose an exterior room with a window (no balcony). At first we were assigned one right at the front, but one of the managers at check-in generously moved us to a room in the back. It had a queen bed and two bunk beds which worked out great for the four of us — even had a curtain to pull between the two sections.

The girls slept very well.

Kids Club

There were two kids clubs and they were awesome. The girls loved getting dropped off with their wristbands and we would get a text when they wanted to be picked up. They had tons of activities, even a STEM day! One day when they were in “Captain Training,” Captain Minnie came by for a dance party and hugs!

They even had super cool automatic handwashing stations.

Overall, it was an epic four days. The service throughout the ship and each of the characters were as lovely as you would imagine for Disney experience. The girls were in fantasy heaven. And the grown ups a bit too. There is not a lot that can compare to seeing the wonder of Disney through their eyes at this age. It was truly magical.