15 years of Dreams come true

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Earning My Ears
Joined
Jun 10, 2012
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My husband returned from an eight month deployment in December of 2018. We decided to celebrate with a cruise for our 15 year anniversary in February. Although we’ve been to Disney numerous times (both with and without our two daughters) we had never been on a cruise before. We were on the Disney Dream from February 4th to February 8th.
Since I was sixteen I have wanted to stay at the Grand Floridian. My husband had always said we would go for our 25 year anniversary. That got bumped up 10 years with this with this trip. The night before our cruise we stayed at the Grand in a castle view room. It was truly a dream come true and just the most magical way to start our trip. We spent the day at Disney Springs and brought back cake from Amorettes to eat on the balcony while we watched the fireworks.

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The next morning we had breakfast at the Grand Floridian Cafe before driving to Port and boarding the ship. We were in room 8188 (5e, we had booked a VGT and were thrilled). We had a champagne tasting in Pink that afternoon before embarking. It was very informative but most of the champagne wasn’t sweet enough for me. After our tasting we purchased cupcakes and gelato from Vanellopes and enjoyed our cones on our verandah while the ship took sail.

A short and sweet summary of our cruise would be: we loved it. The weather was picture perfect every day, we enjoyed the food, we especially enjoyed the drinks, we had fun at Nassau, and we can’t wait to visit Castaway Cay again. It was just the most special trip together.

Specifics:
We ate at the second seating for dinner which was a great fit for us. My husband typically got chicken fingers at Cabanas before or after the show each night if he was hungry. I have a major sweet tooth so I visited Vanellopes a lot. Typically for breakfast I’d order room service and eat on the verandah. My husband would get food from Cabanas and bring it back to the room (also he’d bring back smoked salmon for my bagel bc I’m spoiled like that) bc he wanted more of a choice. We also ate at Palo the night before our anniversary and loved it. We definitely would do it again. I think of the amaretto soufflé often.

At Nassau we did get off the boat and took the Bites of Nassau Food Tour (not offered through Disney, but has great reviews and we enjoyed it). We also wandered the shops some, and my husband bought a pearl necklace for me.

We did do the dessert/wine experience at Remy. I love dessert so I really enjoyed it. My husband liked some of the choices but said it was a bit too fancy for him.

We both agree that our favorite part was Castaway Cay. It’s now my husband’s favorite spot. We just relaxed in a hammock together and enjoyed cocktails, but it was so beautiful and peaceful. We also enjoyed the bbq lunch.

We went to the adult areas some at night, but we mostly stayed in our room or just walked around together. We went to the shows and enjoyed Beauty and the Beast and Disney Dreams but didn’t care for Golden Mickeys. We put down a deposit for our next cruise and neither of us were sure how we would feel about cruising before this trip. I’ll include more pictures in a following post as I’ve written a book.
 
More pictures from our time on the Dream.

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Chocolates from Greycliff Chocolate Factory on Nassau (the green is key lime, the red is dark chocolate salted caramel. I brought a box of assorted chocolates to bring home and every one was delicious).1CA2FDFA-A1E1-4778-94BC-922A5C2847FF.jpeg
Taken from our verandah on Castaway Cay day.
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True story according to my husband.
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Happy Anniversary!
Glad you had a great cruise, they are addictive!!
 


it's so nice to hear that you loved it as a first time cruiser! my first cruise was on my honeymoon with DH, 14 years ago, and it was what got me hooked on cruising as a vacation. we don't get to do it enough, but i still love it - so relaxing and peaceful. Can't wait to read more!
 
What a magical way to celebrate your anniversary and his return. You both deserved some magic after that long deployment. Thank you both for your service.

(I’m in love with your Castaway Cay pics!!)
 

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