Vacations over already...

Aaaaaaaaaand we're back...

*sad sad panda to the nth degree*

I cannot tell you all enough how incredibly relaxing it is to be on a ship completely disconnected from all things phone/internet. What a breath of fresh air! ... Even if I did check my email and facebook as soon as we got back to the car... whoops!

For any of you out there wondering- I highly recommend Disney Cruise Line. ESPECIALLY their newest ship, the Dream. So appropriately named! My sister and her hubby have sailed with Disney a few times and they absolutely swear by them! We were a little skeptical but I think we're in agreement now that we just had an incredible vacation!

Aside from the ship being absolutely gorgeous, the boat is much more than just a kid friendly cruise. But for those wondering- while we weren't cruising with any little ones, I was SO impressed by their youth- teen activities. There are separate locations for infants, kids, tweens, and teens and they are all so fun looking from the outside I wanted to go in. Good news is- no grown ups allowed! In some parts, not even parents. But the kids are very well taken care of by a friendly staff and every guest under a certain age wears a Mickey wrist band with a special scanner thingy-ma-bob so they can always beep in and out of the clubs, giving the parent constant notice of where they are. You can see into the teen club/pool from the top deck and I seriously considered breaking in.

I'm not going to lie- the main pool area is absolutely crazy! It's very fun and the big slide "The AquaDuck" is an absolute blast as it zips you over the side of the boat, but not exactly the perfect place to relax on vacation. Family friendly- yes but "adults on vacation with no kiddies" friendly- not entirely. But the pizza at Luigi's that's part of Flo's Cafe right on that deck, TOTALLY worth crossing back to the family side!

Just next to the general chaos, there is a frosted glass panel with the beautiful words "Reserved for guests 18 and older"... Oh my goodness... A pool, a couple bars, a whole lot of comfier lounge chairs- this was the heaven where we spent most of our sun on the ship time. This is also where Senses Spa is and even though I didn't throw down the big bucks for anything fancy (they offer everything from massages in fancy cabanas with private whirlpools to hair treatments and pedicures) we did pay the $16 for an all day pass to the rainforest room. This is a special room with saunas, steam rooms, aromatherapy showers, hot beds, and a couple whirlpools that overlook the water. SO delicious and relaxing... even when you have a giggling fool sitting next to you that wraps his robe tie around his head claiming to be the karate kid... and yes, that was my person. I'm so lucky. 

The entertainment was fantastic, the food was amazing, pretty much we couldn't have been more sad to get off the boat. Did I mention our stateroom was HUGE with an oversized verandah? Le sigh. I mean, home is nice too! But goodness gracious! We almost didn't make it to Disney's private island, Castaway Cay, because of the damage Hurricane Irene did. But the amazing cast members worked tirelessly to get it cleaned up and we enjoyed a gorgeous albeit rainy and cloudy day over on the adult-only "Serenity Bay" side of the island.

So in short- Greatest vacation ever!!! And now for a very large photo drop. Hope you enjoy these as much as we enjoyed taking them. :) 

The adult only side of the boat...

About as much of Atlantis as we could see for free

Me and my broder on the fancy schmancy night

My broder playing mini golf

The person winning said mini golf game

The view out to our verrandah

Captain Ice Tongs... We did not come too prepared for pirate night so there was improvising abound!

Castaway Cay

Most epic Jenga game EVER played on a boat

There it is! I "small but slightly excessive unless you consider I took over 200 pictures" taste of our vacation! 

More exciting stuff happening around here next week... It just never stops!!