Northern Europe Disney Cruise 2022: Let The Magic Begin

Well, we are back from our big summer vacation. Here are a few vacation numbers for you:

3 weeks away

7 countries visited

11 days on a cruise ship

10 different modes of transportation

(planes, trains, subway, three different boats, taxis, bicycles, feet, buses)

346,164 steps, and 981 floors, recorded on my FitBit

1 sick child for a few days

A LOT of tea and Lego purchased by all of us

1 red crayon which went through the dryer with the white load :(

many new friends made

8 new magnets purchased from our travels

0 bags of luggage lost on four flights (YAY!!!)

too many sculptures of naked people viewed for my kids' liking (hahaha!!!)

4 languages spoken by some subset of us over the three weeks

countless memories made

Phew! That's a lot of numbers. No wonder I'm still tired :)

And now I'll write about thirteen more blog posts to give you some insight beyond the numbers :) (And, more importantly, to record the memories for our family.) If you haven't read the posts I managed to write while on vacation you can check them out, starting here.

Otherwise, I'm going to continue from where I left off with my last post. We'd gone to sleep in Dover, England, and woke up the next morning excited to board the Disney Magic for an 11 day Northern Europe cruise!!!

I've mentioned this on the blog before but we booked this trip back in February of 2020 and it was supposed to sail in August 2021. Clearly, that didn't happen. Also the original trip was supposed to sail the Baltic Sea to Estonia, Latvia, St. Petersburg, Russia, Finland, and Sweden. After Putin invaded Ukraine in February, the itinerary changed. I'd still love to do the Baltic Sea cruise someday but I have to admit, this one was pretty amazing too.

We'd been watching this countdown for a very long time so it was very exciting to see that we were at BOARDING THE SHIP DAY!!!

Due to Dover, England being a rather small port, and an anticipated train strike, our hotel recommended we take a very early taxi to the port. We were about 11th in line to board the ship and had a few hours to wait. Thankfully, there was a large family group ahead of us and they invited the kids to play games with them. Everyone was just sooooo excited to finally be there!

We were able to board by about 11:30 and I seriously cried as we got on board. Sam and Rachel raced up the stairs to the 9th deck for food, laughing and giggling, I was crying with happiness, and Dave was struggling behind with our carry on bags! It was quite the sight, I'm sure :) We started with ice cream, ate a bit more of a proper lunch, and were able to settle into our stateroom by about 1:30.

Our luggage arrived soon after and we unpacked. Sam and Rachel went to check out the kids' and tweens' clubs and we all enjoyed just finally being on the ship again!

 

I convinced Rachel to check out the Sail Awave Party with me and it was pretty fun. However, one thing which was noticeably different about this trip is that our kids have clearly outgrown the deck parties, the character meetings, and basically hanging out with their parents on the cruise! Hahaha!!! They spent most of their time in Edge (the tweens club), except when we forced them to spend time with us. Dave and I felt like empty nesters!!!

 

Last view of the White Cliffs of Dover 

The next day we were all excited about eating a Disney breakfast again. I rarely eat breakfast at home but I love the variety available on a cruise!

And then we had our first port experience: Amsterdam! I lived in The Netherlands for a year in 1994-1995 so I was excited to be back. I got to speak a little Dutch, enjoy some of my favourite Dutch treats (stroopwafels and speculaas), and we wandered the streets of Amsterdam. Our original plan had been to take a canal boat tour but it was pretty rainy so we just walked around.

Unexpectedly, a few days before we left, someone on the cruise was trying to sell extra tickets to the Anne Frank House, which we hadn't been able to purchase previously. I was excited to be able to snap up four of the tickets so we made our way over there.

 

You're not allowed to take pictures at the Anne Frank House, and honestly, I wouldn't have wanted to. It felt like a sacred experience. There was an audio tour provided so everyone silently walked through the spaces and heard Anne's story. It was so moving for me to watch Sam and Rachel's faces as they took it all in. I'm so glad we were able to have that experience.

On the way back to the ship, we stopped for a pancake. Rachel and I shared a lemon and sugar one and it was delicious!

Once back on board, we ate some pizza while watching a movie and then hung out in the afternoon. We enjoyed a delicious supper too. Rachel ordered off the kids' menu but Sam really gravitated towards the adult menu this trip. He tried a lot of new foods!

Rachel wanted to participate in a Disney game show so we were lucky to get chosen. We had to answer questions about each other. We didn't do very well however and Rachel was kind of disappointed :( I had fun though.

It was a great start to our cruise and there were lots more adventures ahead!

To read about Day 8, go here.