Where has the time gone?! It seems like I just got back from Walt Disney World yesterday – BUT, in actuality almost a month has gone by, and now I’m set to leave for another vacation this weekend! What?!

All this jet-setting means I haven’t had a chance to catch up on blogging. I totally meant to write a blog post after my Disney trip, and I debated writing this one about Disney, but I thought maybe I should blog a little bit about my upcoming trip instead. You all know how much I love my Disney trips anyway, right?!

So, you all know my heart lives at Disney. Disney is home. However, every now and then we deviate from our Disney trips and throw some others in the mix! This weekend we are going on a cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas.

Hubby & I with Alex from Madagascar

Why, you ask? Well, there are a number of reasons why we like to change things up every now and then.

We can’t always do the Disney parks, because, for one, we love to cruise. The obvious choice would be Disney Cruise Line, right? Right. We do cruise Disney. A lot. We are Gold Castaway Club Members (Disney Cruise Line’s loyalty program), for Pete’s sake. BUT:

1. Disney has 4 ships. Man, they are amazing, magical vessels, but they are still 4 ships… For now. When we feel we’ve learned every nook and cranny of the Disney ships, we take a little break to go explore some new ships. Four ships also means limited itineraries. Cruise lines with dozens of ships can offer a tad more variety in where they sail. We get to try new ports of call this way.
2. Different amenities. Disney does a wonderful job of catering to families! We LOVE that, and it makes us adults feel right at home when traveling with our little ones! However, when we want a little more variety for adult amenities, we like to look at other lines. Love it or hate it, Disney ships do not have casinos.
3. Characters, characters, and more characters. Our kids LOVE their Disney pals. For sure. But, they also love their other movies, too. Royal Caribbean, for example, features the Dreamworks characters onboard, and this gives the kids a chance to meet some of their other friends like Shrek, Po (Kung Fu Panda), and the Penguins of Madagascar.
   

   That time Puss in Boots proposed to me.

4. Size sometimes matters. There are pros and cons of small vs large ships. We love the intimate feel of Disney’s classic ships, and equally love the novelties of their larger ships, however, Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas is roughly TWICE the size of Disney’s largest ship. The Allure is so big it has neighbourhoods. Neighbourhoods. Insane! Sometimes we just want all the additional amenities a ship that large can offer. We love the skating rink and the aqua show in the dive theatre.

So, it’s all about variety. We love our Disney, but that’s not to say there aren’t some other great vacations waiting to be had elsewhere. Our adventure starts on Saturday, so follow along at @danielletravelsmuch on Instagram to join in on all the fun!

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