Sharing a recap of our 7-night Mediterranean cruise (Italy and Greece) on the Disney Dream! This isn’t sponsored (I want, lol), however I’m excited to share our expertise.
They’ve a useful little trick while you’re on board a Disney cruise: you have got the choice to guide a placeholder for a future cruise at a slight low cost. This fashion, while you get off the ship, it’s barely much less miserable as a result of you already know you’ll be on one other one quickly. We obtained off the Disney Dream in Rome a couple of weeks in the past, and already, we will’t look forward to our subsequent Disney cruise.
This was Disney cruise #4 (we’ve performed Alaska, Bahamas, and Mexico), and it was our favourite one. It was a mixture of the locations plus the bigger ship, which was a literal Dream.
(We additionally obtained to get pleasure from Rome on both facet of our cruise! You possibly can examine our Rome adventures right here.)
7-night Disney Dream European cruise
We arrived on the Civitavecchia port by way of a personal automotive that the lodge booked fo us, and it was the quickest and most seamless boarding expertise. By 1:30pm, we had been on the pool, watching the kiddos swim and ingesting cocktails with pals. (A professional tip from certainly one of our good pals: pack your swim gear in a tote bag and verify the whole lot else. Your room received’t be prepared but, so you may head straight to the pool. It’s the least busy will probably be for the complete journey and after a few hours, your room will probably be prepared with your whole baggage ready for you outdoors the door.)
We had lunch from Cabanas (the buffet) and ate it by the pool, checked out our room, after which obtained modified for the Muster Drill, Sail-A-Wave occasion and dinner.
On Disney cruises, you’re on a eating rotation. You get the early (6pm) or late (8pm) seating, and alternate eating places every night. You possibly can choose out of your extra formal eating to have a fast chunk or room service as an alternative, however it doesn’t matter what, your desk will probably be ready for you. You even have the identical server and assistant server every evening. We had the early seating, and dined at the entire main eating places. The menus had been all similar to earlier cruises and was the beautifully-plated Disney fare we love. 🙂
It’s also possible to order no matter you need. You possibly can choose from their 4-course menu, or in the event you’d like, order two appetizers, two entrees, and many others. In a Disney Cruise Fb group, a suggestion was to ask the server to ask the cooks in the event that they’d thoughts making a family-style meal from their house nation. They mentioned they’ve had the very best Indian meals and curries of their lives this fashion, together with naan and rice. We haven’t tried this but – I really feel unhealthy that we’d be inconveniencing them – however I’ve been interested by attempting it.
Our favourite is Animator’s Palate, which they’ve on the entire ships we’ve seen (Dream, Surprise, and Magic). You draw an individual in your placemat, and in the course of the meal, they’ve a *present* wherein all of animations come to life on giant screens all through the restaurant, dancing to the music, and added to well-known Disney scenes.
On this specific cruise, we stopped in Naples, Mykonos, Santorini, and Chania, and we had deliberate excursions in Naples and Mykonos. The remainder of the time we having fun with exploring the ports on our personal and residing our greatest cruise lives on the ship.
Tour 1: Positano, Sorrento, and Pompeii
This was a few 10-hour tour, which was undoubtedly an extended one for the kiddos, however so value it. Additionally, within the center, we had been handled to an epic 4-course meal with wine pairings, overlooking the ocean.
Positano
Positano is certainly one of my favourite locations in the complete world, so in fact, I couldn’t wait to indicate the ladies. I solely want that we had extra time there! We had the prospect to get a chocolate croissant and occasional, put our toes within the ocean (it was so heat and beautiful), and do some little bit of procuring. (Extremely suggest Luisa Positano! Liv and I every obtained clothes from there and so they’re so attractive and distinctive.) It was in all probability an excellent factor that we had been on restricted time, as a result of I needed to purchase the whole lot. 😉
Sorrento
After Positano, we had been again on the bus for an extended cease in Sorrento. It was my first time in Sorrento and whereas it had the Positano really feel, it was a bit extra bustling, particularly on the primary road. We shopped and walked round, grabbed a gelato, after which met with our tour group for an Italian meal that I’ll always remember.
That is the place we had the well-known zucchini pasta, together with hen, salad, bread, and a chocolate hazelnut mousse dessert.
The meal was paired with glowing wine, white wine, purple wine, and a dessert wine. Just about everybody in our tour group snoozed for the complete experience to Pompeii.
Pompeii
Pompeii was SO cool. It was fascinating to see such a well-preserved historic metropolis, along with the varied facets of life in Pompeii, just like the bakery, bathhouses, and many others. By this level, the children had been fairly drained, however they rallied! We realized quite a bit in the course of the guided tour, and from right here, it was solely 45 minutes again to the cruise ship.
Tour 2: Tremendous Paradise Seaside Day in Mykonos
This was our favourite tour. Tremendous Paradise Seaside is a personal seaside membership, with enjoyable loungers, umbrellas, a full menu, and a peaceable seaside with shiny, turquoise waters. It’s additionally partially blocked from the extraordinary winds that may have an effect on Mykonos.
The humorous factor was that our Naples tour was so time-specific – we knew precisely once we wanted to be again on the bus or at a sure assembly point- and for this seaside tour, the information was like, “Eh. Have enjoyable and I’ll let you already know when we have to prepare to depart.”
We ended up being there for about 3 hours, which was the right period of time. All of us swam, the ladies performed within the sand and waves, and we proceeded to order half of the issues on the menu.
A sandwich was included with our tour, however I’m petty positive our Greek pals would disown us if we ate a turkey sandwich of their homeland.
Earlier than we left, they gave us a listing of the whole lot to order whereas we had been in Greece. The Pilot wrote down the whole lot phonetically so we’d have the ability to pronounce it, like, “Gotta lotta booty yo.” I believe we made them proud; we tried virtually the whole lot they advised between our time in Mykonos and Chania. The meals was out of this world unbelievable. So recent, vibrant, and scrumptious. I extremely, extremely suggest the pastitsio, which is sort of a spaghetti lasagna with tacky foam on high.
(We additionally had grilled octopus, salad, cooked garlicky greens, stuffed grape leaves, beef patties, and little doughnuts)
Santorini:
In Santorini, we didn’t find yourself doing a lot. It’s the place you may see the well-known white buildings with the blue domes in Oia, however it was so scorching, and the children had been melting. It’s sort of an uncommon port, too. You’re taking a smaller tender boat to the bottom of the port, the place you are taking a cable automotive up the steep hill to the city of Fira (plenty of procuring and eating places). It’s also possible to stroll up stairs to the highest, however there are 400+, which will not be reasonable for young children or these with mobility difficulties. Our plan was to take the cable automotive UP, however stroll down the steps on the finish of the day.
The cable automotive line tends to be extraordinarily lengthy, with out a lot shade. The road was simply 200+ once we obtained there and shifting very slowly. The ladies had been sporting their neck followers and we had been always pouring water on them, and so they had been too scorching, so we ended up heading again.
In the event you’re stopping in Santorini in mid-June or July, I’d suggest reserving an tour with motor coach switch so that you don’t need to take care of the cable automotive line. Or convey plenty of water + an umbrella, or courageous the steps!
(I had an iced tea on the cafe on the backside of the port. I discussed this in a earlier submit, however the iced tea in Greece is INSANE. Whether or not it’s brewed in-house, or in a can, it’s actually one thing particular. Many flavors are infused with lemongrass, ginger, or fruit, like cherry, and flippantly candy and refreshing. Who knew I’d dream about Greece iced tea ceaselessly and ever??)
The proprietor additionally introduced us photographs of ouza with our invoice, ice lotions for everybody, and despatched us again to the ship with a large piece of baklava to-go.
Chania:
In Chania, we ended up exploring on our personal, which was supreme. We adopted a tour information group into Outdated City, which was lined with small outlets, kiosks, eating places, and a beautiful view of the bay.
We purchased souvenirs and jewellery, and had one other legendary lunch + extra of the very best concept tea.
(The sardines had been SO zesty and flavorful)
Disney Cruise Dream eating and actions
On the ship, we loved the entire traditional Disney cruise choices: the stay reveals – Magnificence and the Beast was phenomenal – motion pictures, character greetings, Bingo, fitness center, child’s membership, swimming, countless ice cream cones and Mickey bars, whiskey tastings, and the entire great eating places.
The very best half was that we traveled with pals. The ladies had built-in buddies, and so did the adults 😉 It undoubtedly makes the expertise much more enjoyable!
Disney actually goes above and past in relation to visitor expertise, cleanliness, and meals high quality. In the event you guys have any questions in regards to the Disney cruise expertise, please let me know!
(the very best cruise ship magnets are on Etsy!)
So, inform me, pals: are you a cruise fan or not-so-much? Have you ever performed a Disney cruise??
Making an attempt to determine which one we must always do subsequent!!
xo
Gina
*All the clothes on this submit are from Nuuly! I’ve had hit or miss experiences with them, however the clothes for this journey had been all nice
