Disney 1
After Paul’s sudden and surprising heart attack and open heart surgery in February 2005, he said (during his recovery) “gee, we never do anything fun with the boys” (this came as a surprise?). So he decided to use some of the small inheritance he received from his dad (who died in 2001) to take us all on a Disney Cruise of the Eastern Caribbean. I am thrilled to say that it was FANTABULOUS! I can heartily recommend it to anyone with kids of any age (from infant to teen or older). Disney really did it right, taking inspiration from the heyday of international cruising, the 1930s, for the design and service ethic on the ship.
We sailed on the Disney Magic (if you click on this link, click on the “tour the ship” for more pics, which is designed with an Art Deco theme. I took so many pictures of the decor…a tasteful and classy blending of Disney with art deco. I kept thinking how much FUN it must have been to design this ship! If you look carefully at the golden design on the hull in the photo above, you’ll see Disney characters dancing in the waves; the colors of the ship itself are Mickey: Black, white and red!
The good design began with the Disney building where you embark at Port Canaveral, Florida…a map of the Caribbean with water life in it on the floor, and among other things, a scale model of the ship, with one side “cutaway” (that’s the boys on the left):
You then enter on the third deck (of 11!) into the grand foyer, which is three stories tall, with a chandelier that looks like a Dale Chihuly:
The grillwork on the elevators (to the left of the chandelier) looks very “Deco,” but if you look closely you’ll see the Mickey mouse round head and ears in the design:
Here’s another shot of the elevator going past…the boys loved these glass-backed elevators!
Another elevator on the Forward end of the ship had these glorious wood inlay panels:
In other posts, I’ll share the decor in the dining rooms and the Walt Disney theatre (full-size movie theatre size, and also can have stage presentations!), the wonderful “bed critters” in our stateroom each evening, our stateroom and bathroom (yes….there were design lessons to be learned even in the bathrooms!!!!), our outings (think Dolphins, Stingrays and more!), how they keep the kids busy and entertained (so mom and pop can have some down time!) and more. Since I’m leaving in a couple days for a week-long workshop, I won’t have time to do all this before I leave, so will continue when I get home….
And just because, here’s a photo from our first dinner, which was our “character” dinner where performers decked out as Disney Characters from Mickey to Goofy to Chip and Dale to Lilo and Stitch visit the guests…we skillfully avoided them most of the time, but did get this photo (you notice that by being the photographer, I managed to escape being in the photo…teehee!):
August 20th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
It looks like a really pretty ship! I love cruising. 🙂
August 21st, 2006 at 4:13 am
I’m so impressed with your blog (my friend Maggie Hunt) told me about yours…..loved the Disney pics….currently in a Mickey Mouse challenge block….turn it in today,……keep up the good work….Laura in Asheville
August 22nd, 2006 at 2:37 am
cam’t wait to see more pictures, especially your dolphin adventure!