Prepping for our Disney Cruise

We are hours away from boarding our first Disney Cruise and we are excited!!

Making sure I have the essentials….

Princess dresses ✅
Mouse ears on deck ✅
Fish extender ✅
Fish extender and pixie dusting gifts ✅

We are ready!!!

Cruising the MSC Meraviglia – Fall 2024

Two more days until our Disney Cruise! I’m revisiting some of our past cruise vacations to get us pumped and ready to go.

In October 2024, we enjoyed a 7-day Caribbean cruise on the MSC Meraviglia to celebrate my birthday this time. We learned a lot from our first cruise in February! For our NCL cruise, we waited to book everything on the ship. Frequent cruisers know that booking packages in advance is the way to go; it’s cheaper, and you have more options. So we bought everything in advance! We got the drink and wifi package (worth it to us), we got the specialty dining package, and enjoyed four amazing restaurants. I prebooked excursions, spa treatments, and little goodies throughout our cruise. I even booked a little photo shoot for us. It was all worth it!

We had the best time! Learning from our February cruise, we took advantage of every amenity we could. Our daughter participated in the kids club this time, while my husband and I enjoyed the spa and the nighttime entertainment. We also got to enjoy some shows with our daughter. She slept through one show (lol), but she enjoyed the acrobatic one, in the carousel lounge. My daughter was better potty-trained this time, so we got to take advantage of the pools more. The one negative we experienced was the weather. It definitely wasn’t on our side, and we only made one of our ports, but we made the best of it on the ship. The ship had tons of activities to participate in. We plan on going on another MSC cruise in February 2026!

Cruising on the NCL Getaway Winter- 2024

Next week, my family and I are going on our first Disney cruise. We are so excited and are counting the days (4 more to go!). In the meantime, I’m revisiting some of our past cruise vacations to get us ready.

In February 2024, we enjoyed a 10-day Caribbean cruise on the Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL)  to celebrate my husband’s birthday. It was also extra special because it was the first cruise with our daughter.

We had a fantastic time! The boat was gorgeous, and the food was amazing. One regret I did have was that we didn’t take advantage of all the amenities on the ship. We didn’t make it to many of the shows and did not end up using the kids’ club services. We took advantage of excursions during our port days, but some of the ones we were looking forward to got canceled due to the weather. However, we still had a blast and ended up hooked on cruising! 

Indoor Play Areas in Queens and Brooklyn

Here are some indoor play areas/activities that are fun to try when you want to beat the heat (or cold), when it rains, or just for fun.

Twinkle Playspace in Williamburg

PLAYDAY in Long Island City – heavy on art classes vs playground. We attended a birthday party, but they have so many cool offerings: bookmarking, cartooning, collage creations, fashion design, painting and drawing, and printmaking.

Dream City in Forest Hill

Puzzles in Astoria – have seasonal special events, snapology, STEM based and sensory activities.

Maxine’s Baptism and Pre-K Graduation Party

On Saturday, we celebrated my daughter’s baptism and Pre-K graduation. The baptism was held at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Astoria, and the after-party/reception was at Astoria World Manor. We were truly blessed to have so many people celebrate with us.

Celebrating on the Hornblower Atlantica

I celebrated my cousin’s 40th birthday on the Hornblower Atlantica this past Saturday. It was so much fun! We had the whole boat to ourselves. She had a package with drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and a buffet. She also had a fun DJ. The best part was catching Manhattan’s Hudson and East River views.