This was our first Disney Cruise (and first cruise ever). The ship is absolutely beautiful and very well maintained. After arriving at Orlando International, we were immediately greeted by DCL reps and escorted to the "holding area" to wait for the bus. After arriving at the terminal and checking in, we waited for about an hour and were then allowed to board the ship at our leisure. This was a nice way to get acquainted with the layout of the ship, as we boarded around 12:30 p.m. and didn't leave the pier until about 5 p.m. Had lunch at Parrot Cay (average food), then my husband and son went to our cabin to nap. The cabin was clean and the porthole window was unexpectedly large! I really liked having the "bath-and-a-half" feature (and because it was an actual tub, though small, we were able to bathe our 2-1/2 year old son without fear of him darting out into the room buck-naked!). While my boys slept, I decided to make reservations at Flounder's Reef Nursery and Palo (first come, first served!) Both were well worth the extra cost. Flounder's Reef--Because our son wasn't old enough to participate in the children's programs, we decided to use the babysitting service for two nights so hubby and I could have some alone time. I was, however, dissappointed at the meager digs of this service. Being Disney, I guess I expected better. Oh well, my son enjoyed his time there and having the pagers afforded me some peace of mind.

Palo--LOVED IT! Our server was amazing, the food was incredible, and because it is "adults only", we were able to enjoy a long, leisurely dinner. Highly recommended.
Animator's Palate, Triton's, and Parrot Cay had average/above average food. The service was very good, although our assistant server was not as friendly as the head server.

Public areas--I wish the pools were a lot bigger. But mostly, I wish my son (who was not toilet-trained at the time) was able to swim in the water and not just splash around in the toddler area which was merely a very large, round sink with the faucet running and water going down the drain.

Loved seeing Mickey and gang all around the ship, though the photographer was quite annoying.

Shows--we really enjoyed watching "The Golden Mickeys". What a fun way to sit back and relax after dinner. The juggling program was quite entertaining, also. Especially for the adults and older kids.

Nassau--did the Atlantis Hotel and Beach Day. The weather was yucky, but the burgers/dogs were good and the aquarium was awesome. We were able to watch one of the divers feeding the fish and it was simply amazing. My son loved it!

Freeport--skipped it.

Castaway Cay--BEST part of the cruise. Beautiful beach, awesome BBQ lunch, and we even got to see Goofy ride by on his jet ski wearing a Santa costume! Only wish we were there another day.

Debarkation was very smooth and very fast, IF you attended the mandatory meeting the previous night. We stayed in Orlando an extra night therefore took our time getting off the ship (had breakfast, strolled the decks, took pictures, etc). After we got off the ship, our bags were easily identified through the color-coded tag system (very efficient).

Although there were some minor negatives, we will definitely take another Disney Cruise. Thinking about the seven-night cruise to the Western Caribbean...