A Transparent Heartfelt Note

Before we wrap up 2023, I write this not-so-much blog article, but more-so note, to THANK YOU for supporting My Cruising Family by reading our articles, following our social media channels and pages, and engaging with the content that we produce. Those of you who have been here for a while know that, while our content showcases the family, this is Peta-Gaye writing, and it’s Peta-Gaye usually planning the trips, booking the trips, recording the content, editing the content, scheduling the content, strategizing, managing the logistics, etc. It is A LOT for this mama, and as you may also know, to date, we pay for all of our cruises and travels. So…

Peta-Gaye DanielDecember 30, 2023Comment

Travel Reflections - Purpose In How We Travel

Allan and I recently celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary with a visit to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, for the first time! Canada is so close to us here in New York, yet it took us visiting more than 30 countries before we got to Canada. In reflecting on our anniversary trip, I’m led to share a deeper message that I receive from this experience, rather than writing a typical blog that provides a play-by-play of all we did during this particular trip. That said, for those interested in seeing those details, the video play-by-play of our weekend is available at My Cruising Family on YouTube and is linked here.

I’ve wondered and asked God about how in the world telling people about cruises and travel is glorifying onto Him. How is this a ministry? Well, dare I say that this trip highlights some of the answers to that question, at least a bit, for me.

Carnival Venezia: Staterooms, Food, Entertainment, & More

My husband (Allan), our two sons (AJ and LJ), and I sailed aboard the Carnival Venezia for its U.S. inaugural cruise in June 2023, and we got back onboard with my mom for the Melanin at Sea group cruise in July 2023. With two sailings on this new Carnival ship under our belts, the first to deliver Carnival Fun Italian Style at sea, we want to provide you with information to help you plan your Carnival Venezia sailing or to simply help you learn more about this ship.

How We Spent Christmas In Dubai

As promised in Part 1 of this two-part blog series, I will share here in Part 2, where in Dubai we stayed after our MSC World Europa cruise, what we did in Dubai on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and the pricing for our round-trip Emirates flights between JFK and DXB, as well as pricing of other elements of this first UAE trip for our family of 5.

Day 4 of the pre-inaugural MSC World Europa sailing was also Christmas Eve, and on that day, our family of 5 disembarked in Dubai where we would spend another two days before flying back to New York. Prior to leaving the United States, we booked our transportation from the cruise port to our post-cruise hotel, but with stops at the Dubai Miracle Garden and the gold souk in between, since we would disembark the ship early in the morning, and hotel check-in times are usually in the afternoon. In full transparency, the night before getting off the ship, I received communication from the ground transportation company through WhatsApp messages confirming our cruise port pickup. However, at some point during the WhatsApp communication, when the company “realized” that we are a family of 5 with luggage, the company stated that the transportation that I already booked from the cruise port would be too small to accommodate all of us and our luggage. Even after I explained that 2 of the 5 of us were small children, the company insisted that I would need to book a separate van transport from the cruise port to the hotel, and then, the initial car that was reserved for us could pick us up from the hotel to take us to the Dubai Miracle Garden and the gold souk. There was a lot of back and forth with this on the night before disembarkation, which honestly annoyed me

Fly With Us To Dubai And Cruise Aboard MSC World Europa!

It’s been 10 months since my most recent blog post, Twice Upon A Disney Wish, and I’m jumping right back into sharing our most recent travel adventures with you, here, on My Cruising Family, the blog… but not before addressing the elephant in the room…

So, where have we been since Twice Upon A Disney Wish? Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Bermuda! These trips involved two new and exciting cruise ships… oh, and we even stayed overnight right here in New York harbor for the Christening/Naming Ceremony of a third new cruise ship. Those are the quick updates, but if you know me, then you know I get into details. So here goes…

Twice Upon A Disney Wish...

We - Allan, 11-year-old AJ, 7-year-old LJ, and I - enjoyed a back-to-back cruise aboard the Disney Wish! We combined a 4-night cruise and a 3-night cruise, which gave us one week aboard this brand spanking new ship! We’ve been enjoying sharing our experiences through lots of great vlogs on YouTube and content on Instagram and TikTok, so it’s only right that we share highlights from our experience here on our blog.

For the full experience, we of course invite you to head over to our Disney Wish playlist on YouTube, and enjoy!

Why A Back-To-Back Disney Cruise?

For starters, we are super thankful that we booked a back-to-back because it allowed us to have a mix of a fun and active vacation and a restful one too! See, if we only did a 3-night or 4-night cruise, we wouldn’t have had the slower, laid-back days on our balcony and in our stateroom like we did on Days 2 and 3 of this sailing. We would’ve come in the door swinging like we did on Day 6… doing the most! However, with a high-demand new ship like the Wish, we may not have had the opportunity to do the most because things book up FAST!

**Major Tip**

One major tip for you if considering a back-to-back cruise is to head to Guest Services on the last night of the first leg of your cruise to book events for the second leg of your cruise. The same rule applies if

Montserrat: Our First Visit To The Emerald Isle

Allan and I recently traveled to the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean, Montserrat. Why Montserrat? Well, if you’ve been following this blog or my social media channels for a while now, then you know that, as a Caribbean woman, I have had a goal for some years now to visit every country in the Caribbean. If you’re new here, welcome, and now you know! Montserrat was country number 31 for me, and Allan and I can now say that we have visited every Caribbean country! Yes, there are more islands in the Caribbean to visit because some countries, like The Bahamas, are comprised of multiple islands, but as far as countries in the Caribbean, we’ve now visited them all!

11 FACTS ABOUT MONTSERRAT - THE CARIBBEAN’S Emerald Isle:

Peta-Gaye DanielAugust 30, 2022Comment

Dominica: Our First Visit To The Nature Island

Allan and I recently traveled to Dominica - not to be confused with the Dominican Republic. What’s the difference? Well, there are many, but the primary distinction is that The Dominican Republic is a major tourist destination in the Western Caribbean, and it shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, while Dominica - known as the Nature Island - is an entire island located in the Southeastern Caribbean and seems to be far less known or, at least, less visited for vacation.

7 FUN FACTS ABOUT DOMINICA - THE NATURE ISLAND:

Dominica has 9 volcanoes
Dominica’s beaches are black sand beaches
There are at least 365 rivers in Dominica
There are at least 12 waterfalls in Dominica
Dominica can be visited by airplane or cruise ship
Dominica is known for excellent whale-watching and dolphin-spotting as they live very close to shore, year-round
Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End were filmed, in part, in Dominica.

Dominica was country number 30 for me, getting us closer to accomplishing our goal of visiting every country in the Caribbean!

Organized Travel Goals

Do you have a list of places that you desire to see? If you don’t yet have such a list, why not create one?

On September 8, 2017, I published a blog article, entitled: “Organized Island-Hopping and Further Globetrotting,” where I talk about how my travels started and mention my goal of visiting every Caribbean country. In that blog article, I share my checklist for this goal. I find it is important to have a checklist for achieving certain goals in life, and for this goal it’s sort of easy to see why a list is helpful. Anyhoo… I am writing this revamped article today because I am super close to achieving this huge goal that I’ve had for years, and I’m excited!

The Truth About Royal Caribbean’s Boardwalk View Balconies

This Spring Break 2022, our family enjoyed a wonderful 7-day Caribbean cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas, and we stayed in two adjacent Boardwalk View Balcony Staterooms – 8329 and 8327. These rooms are the furthest aft on Deck 8, next to the AquaTheater Suites, which also means that they are closest to the view of the ocean and the AquaTheater, which is exactly why I selected them!

What sort of stateroom do you prefer when sailing? Is there a certain view from your stateroom that you have in mind? Have you ever considered a Boardwalk View Balcony Stateroom?

4 Tips For Your Next Disney Cruise!

One month ago, I set sail on my Grand Slam Disney Cruise, meaning that I’ve now sailed all 4 existing Disney ships! With that, I’m super excited to share with you the following 4 tips for your future Disney cruises! The fourth is kind of a jam-packed bonus!

Tip #1: Install The Disney Cruise Line (DCL) Navigator App!

Through the DCL Navigator App, I enjoyed a fun countdown to the cruise each time I opened the app, and more importantly, I was able to plan ahead for Palo Brunch, Palo Dinner, beverage tastings, and more, well ahead of the cruise. As I sailed solo during this cruise, I wanted to experience Palo Brunch, Palo Dinner, and a number of different beverage tastings, and although the DCL Navigator showed that brunch and all the tastings were sold out at one point, constantly checking the app each day, especially as it got closer to embarkation day, allowed me to see when space opened up for Embarkation Day Champagne Tasting, plus Palo Brunch and Chocolate and Liquor Tasting on Day 2. The reality is that, closer to embarkation day, guests cancel, so slots for certain events will open up, and the DCL Navigator is the most convenient way to see when that happens, and to snag a spot for an event you’ve been looking forward to.

Another major pre-cruise highlight of the DCL Navigator App is…

How To Safely Cruise During A Pandemic

Hey there! We’re still in January, so I think it’s safe for me to say HAPPY NEW YEAR! By now, you may already know if you follow me on YouTube and Instagram that I’m cruising again, and I’m soooo happy about it! By God’s grace, I have been able to safely cruise, even now, and as such, I write this to share six tips for you to safely cruise also!

Tip #1: Select A Cruise Line With…

5 Steps To Planning A Momcation

When: Decide when you’ll go

One very important decision to make after deciding that you will take a momcation is to decide when. At present, my children are aged 10 and 6, so school plays a role in deciding our vacations whether the children are vacationing with me or not. For me, the two overarching options to consider for when to take a momcation are as follows:

When school is on vacation, so the person caring for my children while I’m away won’t need to take them to and from school. This works well if the person is older, is retired, works from home, or has taken time off from work to stay with the children, and so this person would usually not be leaving the house for work, etc.

NOTE: This is the option I opt for because my “go to” person to care for my children while I am away is my mom, and she is a retired nurse. While she can drive the boys around, if necessary, it is much more convenient if school is on vacation, so that she doesn’t have the juggle their two different school schedules while also managing cooking and cleaning for them as well. I know my boys, and they are a handful. While my husband would also be at home, he works, so having my mom care for our boys works best.

However, there is another option…

Moms Want To Run Away Too!

TV shows and stories when I was a kid would sometimes feature kids who wanted to run away… but listen… us mamas want to run away sometimes too… probably even more than the kids! Can I get an amen?!

I love my husband and children dearly - and for some reason, when getting into “real talk” about our feelings, us mamas always feel the need to preface our statements with the “I love my kids” statement. That, in and of itself, is a showing of the emotional and mental burden mamas carry around. As I was saying… I love my husband and children dearly, but being around them almost every single day at the magnitude that we’ve been around each other for the past 2 years has been a lot - from working from home while they were simultaneously schooling from home, to trying to make sure they’re taking their vitamins and being even more vigilant than my usual germaphobic self in the fight against germs, especially now that they’ve been attending school in-person, to managing health challenges in our household - it’s been a lot for them and for me. Can you relate?

Where To Stay During A Disneyland Family Vacation: Tropicana Inn & Suites

As a person who prefers to stay on property at Disney World, and highly recommends Disney World hotels, I am in awe that I am now excitedly and highly recommending the off-property Tropicana Inn & Suites at Disneyland! It was the perfect place for our family’s 5-day Anaheim stay and 4-day Disneyland vacation! Truth be told, when researching places to stay near Disneyland, off-property hotels/motels come highly recommended.

Here are some reasons why I specifically recommend the Tropicana Inn & Suites if/when traveling to Disneyland.

Disney World's 50th Anniversary Or Disneyland: Help Me Choose!

While many Disney fans will be flocking to Walt Disney World to be present for the 50th Anniversary Celebration, starting on October 1, 2021, we just returned from Disneyland, and encourage you to consider Disneyland instead. Now, don’t get it twisted, we love Disney World too, and it was the last big vacation we had before the p a n d e m I c alongside our Disney Fantasy cruise! However, if you are wanting to experience Disney this year, but you are concerned about crowds, long lines, the overall pace, and even the price, we think Disneyland is a great option! Quite honestly, one won’t go wrong with a Disney vacation! Nevertheless, here are some reasons that we find Disneyland to be the Happiest Place on Earth while Disney fans flock to the World’s Most Magical Celebration!

Disney California Adventure Park, Again!

After our first day at Disney California Adventure (DCA) just three days prior, and an overall three days total of Disneyland parks already under our belts, we were prepared for a fun-filled Day four of four! Hoping this overview of our itinerary for a leisurely day at DCA is helpful to you if you’re considering and/or planning a Disneyland vacation

Disneyland Park Itinerary With 10-Year-Old & 6-Year-Old Sons

Need help mapping out your day at Disneyland Park with two young children? Let this blog article help! It’s intended to (1) give you a feel for what you can fit in a day at the park and (2) serve as a flexible itinerary to assist similarly situated families with mapping out their visits to Disneyland Park.

Our family consists of Grandma, Mom, Dad, 10-year-old AJ and 6-year-old LJ, and it should be noted that LJ doesn’t like rides with drops or any ride that’s on the scarier side, so he sat out some rides that the rest of us chose to ride, and when he would do that, one of us would stay with him and then go on the ride right after if we chose to. Disney offers ride-swapping to accommodate that. We also simply chose to forego some attractions that were “maybes” on our list just because we thought it better to repeat rides that we enjoyed. Despite the dark and the drops on Space Mountain, our brave boy LJ even chose to get on it again in order to get a good photo of him on there because Allan’s head was blocking him in the photo from the first day on Space Mountain. So, little things like that can definitely alter your planned itinerary for Disneyland. During the time we were there, that was just fine, as the entire visit was a nice, self-paced experience we all found to be enjoyable. In other words, we weren’t stuck to a rigid schedule.

Our First Day At Disneyland: Disney California Adventure Park

First day in California for all five of us, and we went to Disney’s California Adventure Park (DCA)! Initially, we had a touring plan to guide us in getting to all the major and not so major attractions on our list, but having gotten to our hotel in the wee hours of the morning, after flying from New York, then staying up to sanitize surfaces throughout the suite, unpack, and having our sons refusing to sleep, I said that I needed decent sleep. Since I went to sleep at about 4 AM, I decided we would not go to the park until about 1 PM. So, my previously scheduled touring plan starting at 8 AM was out the window. However, we had a great, well-paced experience, hitting most of what we had on our original list, plus photo ops and shows we didn’t have listed at all! Technically, we accomplished more than I’d actually planned

LEGOLAND New York: LEGOLAND Theme Park Experience

We purchased a LEGOLAND New York Resort vacation package that included tickets to LEGOLAND theme park for 2 days, while we stayed at the new on-site LEGOLAND Hotel New York, and we thoroughly enjoyed our 2 full days at the theme park! Although we previewed the LEGOLAND New York theme park in May 2021, that experience - although good - pales in comparison to our more recent 2-night stay at LEGOLAND!

As Featured In