Last January, my sisters and I sat at a table at Panera Bread, still shell-shocked from losing both our parents in 12 weeks’ time, to discuss the pathway forward from there. We were amazed at how much money our parents had managed to save before their deaths. My dad had never fully retired, driving an armored truck until he was put under hospice care. He always wanted to be sure that my mom would have enough money after he was gone, but then my mom unexpectedly passed away first and all of their retirement money was left to their four daughters. We decided that this time our parents would love the opportunity to take us on a cruise. So in January 2017, on the year anniversary of our dad’s death, all 10 Cleveland grandchildren plus their four daughters and their husbands boarded the Disney Wonder ship in Galveston, Texas and sailed off to the Bahamas for a week. We knew that Mom and Dad would be joining us in spirit, Mom with her camera and Dad paddling close behind in a kayak!
Here is a picture of our beautiful home for the week...the Disney Wonder!
It was so fun to be surrounded by everything Disney and everything was top notch!
We started our drive to Houston on January 1st and arrived the next day by driving through the night. We stayed with Jason's parents for a few days and then drove down to Galveston on Friday, January 6th. It was a cold, windy day but our hearts quickened when we first caught sight of our ship...
Here we are, all ready to board! Our family had two rooms on the boat and my nephews Coldon and Tyler joined our boys in the adjoining room next to ours.
Here is the main lobby of the ship and what greeted us as we embarked on our magical journey...
As we were walking around the ship, we ran into a special friend, Belle!!
We registered the kids into the Kid's areas on the ship known as the Oceaneer Lab and Oceaneer Club. They could come anytime to these play areas from 9 a.m. until 11 p.m. to enjoy different activities, crafts, and cooking classes!
Our rooms weren't quite ready to check into yet, but lunch was calling our name!! We ate most of our breakfasts and lunches at Cabanas, a buffet style restaurant with lots of yummy food and choices.
Landon tried Mussels for the first time on the ship but decided he was NOT a fan!!
Around 2 p.m. we were able to check into our rooms. We had two adjoining rooms that looked just like this one. It had a queen size bed on one side of the curtain, and then the couch would fold out into a bed each night and another bed would pull down from the ceiling to create a bunk bed for the kids to sleep on.
The bathrooms were nice too in that they had a separate area with bath/shower/sink behind one door and another room with a toilet/sink. This made getting ready much easier for our family.
At 4 p.m. we headed down to the lobby area for the Embarkation Party where we enjoyed our first glimpses of our favorite Disney characters...Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale!
Every night at 6:15 we had a show to attend in the Walt Disney Theatre. This was the lobby leading into the theater. Our first night was a variety show that gave us a sneak peak into some of the different acts for the week. We started to hit some pretty rough seas at this point as a storm that had dumped a bunch of snow out West was now crossing the Gulf of Mexico. I really started to feel the ship swaying during this show.
Fortunately after a rest and some motion-sickness medicine, I was up for eating dinner. We ate dinner at 8:15 p.m. every night in one of the three restaurants on board that we rotated through. Our first night was at "Tiana's."
It was a Louisiana/Mardi Gras themed restaurant based off of Tiana's dream from "The Princess & the Frog."
Tiana was even there along with a fun band that provided some fun music that night!
Everything about the whole ship was gorgeous!!
Tiana came around to each table and greeted everyone. Maylie wasn't quite sure what to think about the whole thing but eventually warmed up to everyone!
Nolan was tuckered out from our long and exciting embarkation day so he used his seat for a bed during dinner!
Louis made an appearance too! Maylie was scared to death of him, but Abby was a good sport to get in the picture!
After dinner, the kids went to the Oceaneer Club for a bit before settling in for bed. Trying to settle four boys down in the other room was quite the challenge though and many threats had to be used before they finally all fell asleep!
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