Unfrozen Winter Winners Enjoy Their Disney Cruise

You may remember the charming Hall family who won our Unfrozen Winter contest earlier this year by submitting a picture of their creative snowman. Check it out! 

A-Plus sent the winners on a Disney Cruise and provided airfare for four. Mom and Dad (Rebecca and Bradley) took their two oldest kids, Korbin and Brooke, on their Disney Cruise in July this year. Korbin and Brooke had never been on a cruise before and Rebecca and Bradley hadn’t been in about 10 years. 

“I can’t even begin to tell you how much fun we had and how seriously amazing everything was,” wrote Rebecca. “It was a getaway we could have never taken on our own. Disney does cruising right!” 

The Hall parents were kind enough to send over their itinerary and some pictures from their awesome trip. If you’re interested in taking a Disney Cruise, or just looking to see what it’s all about, check out the highlights from the Hall’s experience. 

Monday

We sailed for two days (Saturday and Sunday) and then ported in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. We booked a Catamaran and went out with a few other families all day. It was Korbin and Brooke’s first time snorkeling and they loved it. We saw turtles and stingrays – it may have been the most fun experience of the entire trip! 

Tuesday

We went from Tortola to St. Thomas in the American Virgin Islands, where we got to do more snorkeling, went swimming, and hung out on the beach. The water was truly that turquoise blue that they show on TV – truly picture perfect. 

 

Thursday

We sailed all day Wednesday and then ported at Castaway Cay, Disney’s Private Island. The water was very blue and had amazing visibility underneath, so of course that meant more snorkeling! They had hidden Mickey Mouses you could look for underwater, which was nice because there weren’t as many fish. They also had an 18 and older beach which we lounged around on while Korbin and Brooke played basketball, pool, and shuffleboard. Castaway Cay had staff everywhere to watch the kids so we (Mom and Dad) hung out and had a daiquiri. It’s like a floating Disneyland! 

Aboard

I (Rebecca) get goosebumps thinking about everything on the cruise ship – it was all so fun and amazing! Disney Cruise Line has a “Midship Detective Agency” where you pick the mystery you want to solve and they give you a card so you can record all your clues. When you hold the card up to a painting, it comes alive – it talks to you, tells you about the mystery you are working to solve, and gives you clues and directions. One mystery went on for two hours because we were running all over the ship. 

They are always playing first-run movies out by the pool so we got to see Big Friendly Giant, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Jungle Book, and Finding Dory. We also got to go on the Aqua Duct, which is a big slide that shoots you up and down and swings you out over the boat! 

We went Goofy Golfing and the cruise also has games like foosball, basketball, and a Tween Club called Edge with events like scavenger hunts, get to you know you games, and more. 

It’s so easy to find characters on the boat – you only have to wait three or four minutes versus 30 or 40 at Disneyland. We met about two a day, and one day we met five in a row! They also have multiple versions of the characters, like Captain Mickey, Traditional Mickey, etc. 

The actual room was amazing! We had an ocean view room with a HUGE porthole and window seat. The room was a perfect size and all four of us were comfortable and never felt smothered. 

Dining

You rotate through three restaurants. Enchanted Garden has cool flower lights on the ceiling that open and close and the ceiling changes colors during your meal and Royal Court was extremely elegant and made me think of Cinderella. The food is very gourmet and they have a good variety. Korbin tried everything, including escargot at the Royal Court. (He thought it tasted like dirt!) 

Animators Palette is animation-themed and they put markers on your table so you can draw a figure. They give you directions on how to draw a figure, then they collect the drawings and at the very end of dinner, they animate your drawings on big screens. You have no idea it’s coming! They put them to music and put them in Disney movies. Brooke is our artist so she worked really hard on hers and was thrilled – the rest of us weren’t quite as polished 

“We can’t thank Service Experts enough for this once in a lifetime vacation,” Rebecca wrote after they returned from their cruise. “I tear up when I think about the whole experience. Submitting an entry I never thought would go anywhere, learning we were a finalist, the nail-biting voting stage, the big announcement, planning and picking which cruise, the excitement of going and finally experiencing an amazing vacation. It was such a fun time living it all. Thank you, thank you!” 

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