Disney Cruise Line: Pools!

So you’ve covered a lot, you tell me, but let’s get down to the serious stuff: I’m surrounded by water on this boat, but where can I get wet?

Lots of places! The first pool that probably comes to mind is the main pool out on deck, pictured above behind all those deck chairs and below, well, everywhere:

That Mickey face is actually a deeper part of the pool, which is pretty cool and the main draw (besides that it is a huge pool) is that there is a huge, huge movie screen that is constantly playing something, whether it’s Disney channel hit TV shows or movies. This of course means this area is super, super popular with kids. If swimming is a little too boring for you, take note of the tube that stretches around the entirety of the deck. That, my friends, is the Aquaduck:

The Aquaduck is a super fun tube ride that sends you down and around the main deck–even out over open ocean for a few seconds! Not for the faint of heart or those who want to keep dry, this activity tends to have a long, long wait time unless you are up there right when it opens or stay on the boat when the ship is docked somewhere. We ended up coming back early on Castaway Cay and basically had the whole thing to ourselves for an hour! It was great!

If you have children with you, one of the coolest places to be is right behind the Aquaduck on the main deck at Huey, Duey, and Louie’s Aqualab!

Those imaginative nephews of Donald Duck have put together a super fun water playground! This place was so cool I wished we had a kid with us so that we could have an excuse to go play. I mean, people probably wouldn’t have minded if we went in but…it was always full of kids, probably in the 5-10 range. 

If you want to get wet and have fun doing it without the hassle of having to swim, this was the place to be! It takes a fun, imaginative setting and adds water. You can’t get much better than that on a hot day!

Take a closer look at those buckets…

…but don’t get too close or you’ll get soaked!

There was also a side area in the shade modeled with a Finding Nemo theme for younger children. With a soft rubbery floor and some smaller, gentler water games for them to play with, this spot was very popular with toddlers, but I sadly don’t have any pictures of that.

Enough with the kids, say all the couples out there! How do I get some pool time away from children!?  Fear not, Disney has you covered in three different ways:

There are two pool areas in the “adults only” section of the outdoor deck. One is an actual pool with a “swim up” bar that isn’t so much “swim up” as it is “walk in ankle deep water over to the bar.” I actually liked this pool as it had varying depths for when you wanted to take a little swim (it was pretty small) but also an area where you could just sit in a little bit of water to cool down and soak up the sun with a cold drink in your hand.

The other is a really cool looking fountain-like pool that we sort of couldn’t figure out what to do with. It is circular with a bench around the middle part and a big waterfall of water falling all around it. This does turn off and on so you can sneak in and out without ever getting your hair wet, but there was really no way anyone was doing any “swimming” in it. It was a nice place to cool off and it looks beautiful, so perhaps it is just there to make you look good on vacation. With another drink in your hand of course.

Then there are the hot tubs. My friends I wish I had pictures of it but I was too busy relaxing to bother with the camera. These hot tubs have glass bottoms and stick out over the side of the boat so that when you look down all you see is ocean! Not for the faint of heart or those with a fear of heights, it was pretty cool! But as one of those people that has a fear of heights after awhile my nerves got the better of me. Still, it was a wonderful way to relax for a few moments so long as you don’t stare down with paranoia the whole time. 

I mean I’m sure Disney has tested the bottom of those things many, many times, but it was an all you can eat cruise and…well. Everything was delicious! Did they account for vacation pounds? Probably, since I’m still here to blog about it. 

And that brings us to our next topic: Dining! Stay tuned!