Disney Cruise Prep

Today, I want to take you through the prep days we took for our Disney cruise. We were supposed to go on the Disney Wish cruise ship over New Year’s Eve, but we got sick and ended up having to cancel. Luckily, we were able to postpone it to this month, and I’m so excited! We’ve been on the Wish before, and I was not prepared for it at all. I’m so ready this time! We’re packing, eating, shopping, sharing tips, and I’m going to take you through it all!

First things first, Andre and I got our workouts in. I was one of three people chosen to be ambassadors for a new fitness app. This is something that’s been on my vision board for a long time! I’ve secretly been using the app since December and I’m obsessed. It has empowered me to not only work out at home, but also work out in an actual gym. I was always the nerd in the gym that was embarrassed because I didn't know what to do, so I never really did gym workouts. I went into a gym and powered through a killer workout using all the machines, because the app literally shows you what to do. You can listen to your music and basically have a personal trainer in your pocket. It’s incredible! The program I’m doing is five days a week, so my goal is to do the app’s five days of workouts, and on the other two days, I’m going to do pilates or yoga. There is a gym on the ship, so I’m also planning on utilizing that to stay on my schedule.

Post-workout, we went to fuel up with Disney food. We’re going to make it our mission to try all new Disney restaurants, especially the quick service ones. We love trying new places! We always go to the Port Orleans Resort - French Quarter, so we decided to give Port Orleans Resort - Riverside a try. It was amazing! It was very New Orleans themed food, so we had jambalaya and gumbo. So good!

Back at the house, we went into full packing mode. I wanted to try to fit everything into a carry-on since we would only be gone for four days. I laid out all my clothes in the spare bedroom and planned out my outfits. There is a restaurant on the ship called Enchanté that is Lumière themed, so I found a gold dress that I thought would be perfect for dinner. It was giving Beauty and the Beast! There’s also a bar called The Bayou, so I found a green dress that was giving bayou. I love a good theme! I bought some new bikinis for Castaway Cay, and a matching dress and hat set from @kingdomsandco to wear when we get on the ship. My fav hair accessory shop sent me a bunch of fun scrunchies, clips and headbands for the cruise, so I’m definitely bringing those as well!

Ready for my first cruise tip? The most annoyingly expensive thing on a cruise is buying water and water bottles. You have to order them to your room. It’s insane; don’t do it. Instead, bring a tumbler that you can fill up. I found a sparkly rainbow tumbler that I topped with a Figment Park Pal. It’s giving Disney and I’m here for it! Andre is also bringing one. What we’ll probably do is fill them up in the gym so we have water in our room.

Cruise tip #2: You need motion sickness bracelets. I thought I was a champion with motion… but apparently I’m not. I got some bracelets for our last cruise and the game changed! You put them on each wrist, and there’s a pressure point on them. Don’t ask me how it works, but it works! Some people have nausea on cruises, and some don’t at all. Some people have never dealt with it before and then dealt with it, like I did. For me, it usually comes on day one. I don’t know what to expect, so I just try to go in prepared. I also get dock rock after getting off the boat, which is when you still feel a sense of motion on land. The bracelets help a ton, but Bonine is the best. It’s so much better than Gravol and Dramamine, in my opinion. It tastes like raspberry and doesn’t make you drowsy. It’s just amazing!

Cruise tip #3: Don’t bring your hair tools if you don’t have a converter. I’ve brought my Dyson air wrap without a converter before and it was fine, but it was really risky. When I got off the ship, I saw all these confiscated hair dryers and steamers and thought, “that would’ve sucked.” I’m not going to bring mine this time around; I think it’s just safer.

After getting some things packed up, we headed to Disney Springs. It was Cinco de Mayo that day, so obviously I needed a margarita from Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ while we did some shopping for our trip. It’s arguably one of the best margaritas on property! My other top picks are from Jaleo’s, La Cava del Tequila, and the smoked margarita from Finn’s.

First, I went to Sephora (shocking) and got a couple of things. The Sephora at Disney Springs is insane, but the line does move semi-quickly. I got a tinted serum that I have at home in Canada with little beadlets in it that is so good. I love a good tinted moisturizer/serum! I also got some de-puffing eye patches. I could use about 20 of these so I should’ve gotten more, but what I got should be fine for the cruise. Last, I got a beautiful little eyeshadow palette, so that’s definitely coming with me as well. When I cleaned out everything from moving, I donated SO MUCH makeup, and the few things that remained were my Huda Beauty palettes. Out of many years of makeup, I think that speaks volumes!

Next, we went to a jewelry store called Ever After Jewelry Co. They carry Disney Loungefly, jewelry, Pandora, Baublebar, etc. I got some Mickey stud earrings that I thought were very cruise appropriate. I also got a ring that I found at the cash register. You might know that I love Donald Duck… well, they had a Baublebar stacked ring of Donald that I had to have. It’s absolutely incredible!

Then, Andre needed some day shirts and nice, collared shirts. He got two button down shirts at Ron Jon that are so good. The fabric is super light and just perfection. They were great finds! We also spotted a Star Wars shirt with all the characters on it. Even our little Ewok, Carl, is on it; it’s incredible! We decided it would be his Hyperspace Lounge shirt on the cruise.

The next day (Monday) is the day we left. We were able to get checked in on the Disney Cruise Line app before heading to the port. On the app, you can complete your health questionnaire, see the balance of your room, review your itinerary, and find a checklist of everything you need to get done before boarding the ship. There is also a QR code that can be scanned when you check in. It’s super easy!

One of the reasons we like the Wish and the Fantasy ships (the times we’ve gone; anything can change) is that we really like the port that is the closest to Disney, which is Cape Canaveral. The drive is about 40-45 minutes from our house, so it’s not bad at all. We’ve now taken cruises three times out of Cape Canaveral, and three cruises out of Fort Lauderdale. I don’t know if I’m biased because it’s Disney, but the experiences we’ve had in Cape Canaveral are so much smoother (knock on wood). Every time we’ve gone out of Fort Lauderdale, it was a 45 minute to an hour endeavor just waiting to get on the boat, and it didn’t feel organized. At Cape Canaveral, you get right on the boat. If you’re taking a Disney cruise, they also have a Mickey archway you walk through, which is so fun!

On the ship, I booked the barber shop for Andre to go to right when we got on. On Tuesday, we have massages and dinner at Palo Steakhouse. We decided we won’t be getting off the boat in the Bahamas because we’ve done it before, so we’re good. For our day at sea, we don’t have anything planned, so we will probably just sit by the pool. On day four, we have dinner reservations at Enchanté, the Lumière/Beauty and the Beast restaurant I mentioned. Apparently it’s amazing! We’re also going to try to do the Rainforest Room, utilize the gym, and try different things that other people don’t always talk about, and we’re going to do it the adult way. In my next blog, I’ll share all the nitty gritty details!

I hope you enjoyed this if you’re prepping for a cruise. Hopefully this was helpful, entertaining, and as always, Disney-esque! I love being helpful with tips and tricks, so if you have specific questions, drop them in the comments. I’m excited to share it all with you!

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