Cox Family Cruise 2014!

Our first cruise was MAGICAL!!
Not only was it our first cruise, it was our first experience with Disney, so our expectations are set high from now on!

We used a wonderful travel agent who talked me through the whole process and gave us such great advice. I did do a lot of my own research as well, but felt fairly prepared going into it. 

Since we told Camille a week in advance that we were going... we created a fun countdown for her to do each day, as well as a little gift that would prove useful on our trip. (glowsticks for pirate night, disney themed activities for the plane ride, a personalized shirt, etc)

We set sail on November 9th on the Disney Wonder to celebrate Camille turning 5 years old! What a memorable celebration it was. We did a 5 day cruise, sailing from Miami to Cozumel, to Castaway Cay, and back to Miami.

Camille got to fly on a plane... which may have been a bigger deal to her than actually being on a ship! She knows Mommy flies a lot for work, and so she was thrilled to get to experience it for herself. We flew from Raleigh to Miami the day before the cruise, so we could get settled in Florida and be ready to embark bright and early the following morning.

Camille was quite the ham at the airport! Can you tell she was excited?!

Since we spent the night in Miami, we were excited to wake up and head to port to catch our cruise! Camille stayed excited on the bus ride into port! It was an early start to a cloudy, rainy day, but that didn't keep our spirits down!

Disney has every process down to a fine art..... so organized and easy. My personal favorite was receiving our "key to the world" cards and personal navigator.... My type A self loved all the details and schedules!

This navigator was delivered daily and had every piece of information you could ever dream of!

Once we boarded the ship.... and yes, we were actually announced.... "Disney welcomes The Cox Family!" Exciting.... we couldn't use our cell phones. Sounded stressful at first, but ended up being such a great way to keep us relaxed and focused on each other. So all pictures were on my camera, not my phone. I'll do another post with other details of the on the cruise experience, but just take my word for it, it was GREAT!!!

Nick and I kept saying how this was the first time that we actually felt fully relaxed on a "family" vacation. We came back so recharged and ready to tackle our normal daily schedules after that week away. Thank you Disney!!

Camille had fun flying back to Raleigh, even though we were sad to leave. We were also disappointed in the weather headed back.... We came from a week of 80+ degree days to a cold Raleigh 40 degree day! She was excited to show off all of her new Disney gear and she even earned her "wings" from the flight crew! Does she look older? I can't believe our baby is five!!!