Disney Cruise Line Tips

Grab your sea legs, because we're going sailing with Mickey! After making our first journey to Disney World this Winter, the last place I thought I'd find my family was surrounded by Mickey, Minnie, and the gang on a cruise ship. But that's just where we ended up last week after Disney Cruise Line invited us on the Disney Magic's inaugural sailing out of NYC and up the New England coast. Having never cruised before, we found it to be an entirely new adventure for us, and one that had me nervous about being "trapped on a boat" for five days (one day in Halifax, Nova Scotia, one day in St. John, New Brunswick, and two days at sea).

Now that we're back on land, I can see I had little to worry about. In true Disney fashion, there was so much to do that I wished I had another two days to take it all in. We relaxed in hot tubs, played ping-pong and foosball at the bow of the ship, took photos with countless characters, baked cookies in the kids' club, watched The Avengers in 3D in the 278-seat Buena Vista Theatre, joined in a boisterous round of Bingo one evening, saw first-rate live shows every night, danced to pirate rock music on the deck of the ship, and even found time to work out in the gym while overlooking the Atlantic — and this was all before we ever stepped foot off the boat at one of our ports. From the moment the crew gave us personal welcome over the loud speaker when we walked onto the ship (a Disney Cruise Line exclusive), there was never a dull moment.

Keep reading to see my tips for making the most out of your time on a Disney cruise.