Yes, we did another cruise, and it was awesome

We finished our fifth cruise today, setting our Disney Castaway Club status to gold. That mostly doesn't mean anything, but we can book a little earlier for some itineraries and certain other things like port adventures (and cabanas). Oh, there's a reception with the crew as well for 4-night and longer trips, which we've yet to do.

So why have we done the 3-night Bahamian trip five times? The first was part of a plot to surprise my father-in-law, and having not done a cruise, we were surprised at how much fun we had. The other four were all booked once we lived in Orlando, and while not what I would describe as inexpensive, there are many reasons we like these short trips:

• There is no travel stress. We get in the car, and in about an hour, we get on the ship. No air travel to worry about.
• Sometimes they're about the price per night of a 5-diamond hotel, only the hotel moves around, and it includes as much food as you can eat, fantastic entertainment, and a day at the most beautiful beach you may ever see. Even at more expensive rates it's worth it to me.
• Because the Dream does 3-night trips departing Fridays most of the year, it means taking only one day off. We're home around 9 a.m. on Monday morning. I can bank those vacation days for longer trips.
• The disconnection is fantastic. I love getting away from computers, email, my sites and the heap of toxicity that the Internet can often be. Seriously, I don't know why it's so hard to do.
• There is no other circumstance where I've felt as looked after as I have on these cruises. With the pressure of being a provider, even if it's self-imposed, I need that now and then.

It's not boring or repetitive. This time in particular, we mixed up quite a bit of our activity. I do look forward to doing it with friends again, and that is on the radar. We very much want to do longer itineraries, we're just waiting for the right time and circumstances in relation to Simon.

This time, we had a particularly good waiter, and had some different food options. In fact, he pretty much threw the menu out the window to get dishes from the other restaurants (I'm a big fan of the tomato basil soup from Enchanted Garden, which you can get any night if you know to ask). He was also really good with Simon, which we needed given some of his recent behavior issues.

We also saw quite a few movies. The Buena Vista Theater is a really first-class movie theater. We finally saw Big Hero 6, and we loved it. Diana saw Into The Woods, and I saw Cinderella. On the last night we did see the stage show Believe, which is the best of the three. Also in the live-E category, I did the presentation about the making of the ship. Simon took to the mini-golf and foosball.

This was a big trip for us, because Simon has been challenging lately, and I was worried that this was going to affect our ability to travel. While there were a few instances of him being "hangry," he was a good boy most of the time. It's so good to see him interacting with other kids, and grownups. Those sweet moments with us don't hurt either.