A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes

I can’t get that song out of my head.

Let me stop for a minute and say that a vacation with MY kids isn’t really a vacation….not that they are miserable or awful, I love them dearly.  But they are exhausting.    Tara especially.

But gosh darn it, Disney Cruise Lines work really really hard at TRYING to give you a vacation…kids or not kids….no matter your age or the kids.

Before I even set off, I thought ‘Ah just having a few days of no cooking or dishes will be a nice enough break.’

I have to say, the trip went well beyond this lowly statement.

(By the way, the Disney Parks Blog has some SPECTACULAR photos of the ship during the voyage)

From the moment you step aboard to a friendly ‘WELCOME SAURIOL FAMILY’ to the crew fussing over the children…..you know you are some place special.

This trip was really perfect for our family.  Adam loves the great outdoors and Caity told us that ‘Disney was in her heart.’   Adam went nuts spotting whales, seals, dolphins and mountain goats while Caity went equally nuts spotting her favorite princesses. That was inbetween the marathon hours spent at the Oceaneers Club and Lab which they were allowed to go back and forth depending on activities and where your new buddies were.

And that is what I noticed the most.

Clumps and clusters of kids of all ages from elementary age to tween to teen, wandered the ship heading to or from their various activities.  All new friendships forged quickly on board.   The kids were not loud or obnoxious, they were all polite and happy and clearly all felt comfortable in this magical world.

The kids are given a microchiped wrist band to sign them in and out of their clubs and while we did allow Adam the privilege of signing himself in or out, he was happy to have us there for him.

The clubs and the Flounders Reef babysitting also provided snacks and lunch and dinner for all the kids there.  Parents of the teens and tweens said they literally never saw their children except MAYBE at dinner if they asked nicely.

The Disney Cruise Ships are not just for kids.  There were plenty of kidless folks onboard.  Plenty of what we assume was ‘hardcore’ cruisers and plenty of folks just enjoying the luxury and scenery.

I still feel that we were not in the ‘club’ and not privy to all the pin trading and matching t-shirt clad togetherness that many seemed to exhibit.  Not to mention all the stickers and photos on stateroom doors.  WE only had two!

I think we would have felt more togetherness if we had partaken of more of the family and ‘adult’ activities.  But while Adam and Caity were well taken care of, we had Tara and Tara is not one to make life easy.    Even trying to watch the spectacular live shows with her was a trial.

Our lovely stateroom had its own veranda.  We were up on 8^th floor.  Just one down from the deck.  IF Tara was older or mellower, we could have enjoyed many an hour out there watching the world roll by.

Petipun (Peter Pan as he was known to all) teaches us Towel Origami

Being that this was Disney’s first cruise to Alaska it was great fun watching the crew themselves taking in the scenery and posing for their own photos.  And exclaiming about the cold!

We didn’t find it cold; the weather was mostly sunny and pretty much like Vancouver has been this whole spring.  It was warm enough for the pool and the hot tub.   Nothing says luxury like sitting in a pool watching glaciers roll by.

Caitlyn loved the whole idea of dressing for dinner.  Adam, not so much.   Sadly the main formal night was also the night of VERY rough seas as we headed north on the outside of Vancouver Island instead of the Inside Passage.  Needless to say, only Caity and I made it down for dinner out of our family. Poor Adam was very sea sick.   I had even had Caity’s hair done in an up do at the Vista Spa’s hair salon.

The beautiful Animators Palate was half empty except for those die hards with sea legs all done up in tuxedos and gowns.

Your same server and assistant server follow you from restaurant to restaurant each night and spoiled us and the kids so much.   What a way to dine!  The food was incredible.  A different menu every night filled with some of the best cuisine I have tasted.

Angela, our hostess, treated us to a dinner at Palo’s, the adult only restaurant on the top foredeck that simply took our breath away with the cuisine and service.

Tracy Arm was the highlight of the trip.  I had spent the morning at the spa enjoying an incredible deep tissue aromatherapy massage and then headed out to meet up with Patrick and Tara for lunch (Barbecue on the deck) and watch the icebergs float by.

The Arm is a very narrow and twisty fjord with the Sawyer Glaciers inside.  Not as large as the Humbolt Glacier in Glacier Bay, but a sight to behold as you cruise serenely between the rocky cliffs.

Juneau is a lovely town filled with warm and friendly people.  Ketchikan looked great too, but we spent the time in port in the pool with the kids instead and watched the world go by.

Skagway was a funny little place and the weather was foggy and gloomy.  But there we did our chosen Port Adventure and took the train up the White Tail Pass to Fraser, BC where we followed the Gold Rush Trail and took in amazing snowy countryside.

Adam has decided that after panning for his $19 worth of gold, he is going to work at the Gold Panning Centre in Skagway when he grows up.

Despite the daily rigmarole of sorting out three kids for getting dressed, fed, bed, etc….the whole trip really had a dreamlike quality.  We were unaware of what was going on in the world.  Our world was the daily schedule of activities and the scenes unfolding around the ship.

I don’t know what defines ‘Vacation’ more than that.