{"id":719,"date":"2009-06-29T07:58:45","date_gmt":"2009-06-29T11:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/?p=719"},"modified":"2013-08-13T13:56:07","modified_gmt":"2013-08-13T17:56:07","slug":"a-weekend-getaway-disney-cruise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/a-weekend-getaway-disney-cruise\/","title":{"rendered":"A Weekend Getaway Disney Cruise"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jane Jones<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are lots of reasons to take a Disney cruise. I’ve gone on a 4-nighter so others could “try cruising on for size.” I’ve done a 7-night “grand gathering” type family vacation cruise. I’ve even taken a longer 11-night cruise that was my floating hotel room for a European sight seeing vacation. While a 3-night cruise may seem to pale in comparison to an 11-night Mediterranean adventure, my recent weekend on the Disney Wonder <\/em>was wonderful!<\/p>\n

Why take a 3-night cruise? To celebrate\u2026and plan to do nothing! Or plan to do everything!<\/p>\n

I celebrated my 11th wedding anniversary in May and my husband and I decided very last minute (within two weeks of sailing) to celebrate in Disney style. The only thing we wanted was a low-key, laid-back weekend celebration. Happily, by living in the Orlando area, we have the luxury to make last-minute Disney vacation plans. After getting Grandma to agree to watch our daughter, we contacted Lisa at the Magic For Less Travel. I shared just what I wanted \u2014 the cheapest stateroom I could get (I figured for only 3 nights, maybe we’d luck out with an upgrade); no set tours, excursions, or plans; and no special dining (no Palo). While Lisa had a hard time with us declining Palo (I’ll explain why we did later), she booked our cruise and we were ready to set sail in a matter of days!<\/p>\n

Within a few days, the brochures offering tours, excursions, and amenities arrived. Although we poured over them, we still decided not to make set plans. Our only “plan” would be to snorkel at Castaway Cay. That we could arrange on board the ship or at the island. A week before our sail date, we received our travel documents. I immediately tore into them to see which cabin would be ours. Having booked the lowest category stateroom I could in a Category 11, I was banking that we would get a stateroom upgrade…and we did! We were upgraded to a Category 9 room \u2014 we now had portholes, a view, and the all-important split bathroom! The last-minute booking worked out for us.<\/p>\n

Now I was really excited. This lovely little trip was still the laid-back getaway we had envisioned, now with perks!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Our sailing date arrived, and that morning we started to pack. Knowing it is only an hour’s drive to the port from our home, we didn’t need to be in any hurry. We had a leisurely morning \u2014 we dropped our daughter off at school, came home, packed, and left for the port around 11:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

\"Mickey\"We arrived in perfect time to board the ship and get the maximum amount of time on the Wonder<\/em>. This was our first time on this ship, having only sailed on the Magic<\/em>. Truth be told, we wondered if it would measure up to the Disney flagship. We were not disappointed and actually found some decoration theming we preferred on the Wonder<\/em>. They are alike, but have personalities and a few special difference all their own!<\/p>\n

So now that we were on board, what to do? We stuck to our plan to not make plans.<\/p>\n

\"Stateroom\"We soaked it all in. We went to our stateroom and hung out for a little bit (of course peeking out of our portholes) before going to the Adventures Away Celebration at Goofy’s Pool Stage. We walked the deck area and awaited the best horn blast on the seven seas! Once we heard those seven horn sounds (if you don’t know it, the horns play “When You Wish Upon a Star”), we knew it was real and that we were off on a relaxing 3-night trip all about doing nothing\u2026and all about us! A great bonus was looking beyond the deck party. We saw rays swimming alongside the ship, could view the NASA vehicle assembly building, and saw two submarines quietly docked just on the outskirts of the port. See what you can see when you plan to not have a scheduled plan?<\/p>\n

Not having a real plan or to have to go anywhere is great. The only time restriction we had was dinner, and even then we could miss it if we wanted and eat at the many other food venues on the ship like Pinocchio’s Pizzeria, Pluto’s Doghouse, or the Beach Blanket Buffet. We did decide that part of taking a Disney cruise was the rotation dining so we opted for doing just that. Our first night would be at Parrot Cay, Triton’s on night two, and our final night (and our anniversary) we would dine at Animator’s Palate. With three nights and three rotation dining destinations, we had no room in the schedule to go to Palo this trip, and we wanted to see all of the rotation-dining restaurants. Besides, this trip was not about dressing up \u2014 that would require planning!<\/p>\n

This was a trip about doing nothing\u2026and doing everything we wanted. Here are our recommendations for a short 3-night cruise, especially if it is “adults only”:<\/p>\n