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Sharing a full recap of our latest Disney cruise: the 3-night Baja cruise from San Diego. Just a heads up that this post wasn’t sponsored or comped (I wish lol) – just sharing our experience since I know many of you also love a lil Disney magic.
Hi friends and hello back in the real world after an amazing double vacay: a trip to San Diego followed by an incredible Disney cruise. I’m still slightly swaying from the boat’s motion and walking downstairs, disappointed to find that no full buffet is waiting for me. It’s been a rough transition, let me tell ya.
We were back on the Wonder (we sailed on the Wonder to Alaska a few years ago!) and it felt SO GOOD to be back at one of our favorite vacation spots and surrounded by amazing friends. Our friends from Tucson joined us – they’re professional Disney cruisers (this was #9 for them) and we’ve been friends since Kathryn brought me a baby meal after Liv was born! Our Kleiger fam from San Diego joined in the fun, too, and it was such a blast getting to catch up with everyone and the kids played so well together.
The cruise crew:
Sweater here // skirt here // boots
(It was impossible to get a pic of all of the kids in the same spot at the same time)
We checked into the ship on Friday and headed straight to the pool. A tip for Disney cruise friends: check-in is the BEST time to hit the pool. (Just put your suits and pool gear into a backpack, because your luggage is delivered to your room.) It’s the least amount of people it will be the entire time, and you can grab food to enjoy by the pool. The kids immediately ran to the water slide, we ordered drinks, and watched them on the deck.
(The Pilot’s DADALORIAN shirt is one of my faves)
After pool time, we quickly changed, attended the mandatory safety drill, and then it was time for the Sail-A-Wave party, featuring music, dancing, characters, and the horn of the ship playing, “When You Wish Upon a Star.” Dinner the first night was at Triton’s (you rotate dining each night) for our small table of 11 😉
Our port was Ensenada, and it was the Pilot’s first time ever in Mexico. The fact that he could stroll around with a giant margarita had him sold, but he also love the vibe, the food (OMG the food), and can’t wait to go back.
There weren’t a ton of excursions that we could do as a family – you have to be 10+ for some of the more adventurous ones- but the kids all agreed that the lobster lunch in Puerto Nuevo sounded good.
We took a tour bus 50 miles to Rosarito for shopping:
Pullover is here – I sized down
(We had the best carne asada tacos on fresh tortillas, conchas from the bakery, and margaritas)
and then we went to Puerto Nuevo for our lobster lunch with a guitar trio performance. They served bottomless margaritas, a fish taco, grilled lobster, rice, beans, warm homemade tortillas, chips and salsa. Everything was super fresh and flavorful.
We shopped a bit before heading back to the bus and the port! Dinner the second night was at Animator’s Palette (such a fun dining experience as they turn your table’s drawings into animated characters that dance on the walls), and we followed it up with the Frozen show, which was even better than the one Liv and I saw on Broadway. We were all exhausted from such a long day, but we rallied and went to the Pirate party on the deck, followed by fireworks. It was 11:30pm (12:30am Tucson time!) and we basically had to drag our dancing kiddos off the deck and convince them it was bedtime.
Sunday was a sea day, and the kids spent a lot of it bouncing between Kids Club, we played Bingo (we all take it very seriously haha), the kids did a towel folding class with the dads, and I spent some time at the cafe drinking a latte, eating a rice crispy treat, and reading a book.
One of my favorite things about the friends we travel with is that it’s so low-key. We’ll often split up for different activities during the day, and then meet up for lunch, Bingo, or dinner. There’s no set agenda and we just kind of do our thing and meet up sporadically throughout the day.
It’s been a few years since our last cruise – our last one was the Disney Magic to Bahamas Feb 2020 right before the world flipped upside down – and it felt completely back to normal. I was curious to see if any of the food quality, service, or magic would be missing, and it was even better than I remembered.
Disney truly goes above and beyond. It’s mind-boggling that they prepare 10,000+ meals per day and somehow manage to plate them beautifully, cook them to perfection, and the crew members are so pleasant and wonderful.
Nightly turn-down service, towel animal, and chocolates:
I wish I would have taken more food pics to show ya, but the highlights were lunch at Cabana’s (a huge buffet- I loved the Indian food options one afternoon), the endless fresh seafood (I’m pretty sure I had seafood at every single meal),
and the beignets at Tiana’s.
If you have any Disney cruise questions, I’d be happy to answer them for ya! A recap to Alaska is here, our Alaska packing list, and recap of the Magic to Bahamas trip. We already booked a placeholder for our next Disney cruise, so hopefully there will be another one in the near future. 😉
Are you a cruise fan or not so much? I wasn’t sure if I’d like them initially – the rooms are small and the thought of being out on a boat in the ocean freaked me out – but I can say we’re all obsessed.
Hope you have a great day and I’ll see you soon!
xoxo
Gina
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