EXCLUSIVE Emma Willis reveals why she and Matt Willis went on a Disney Cruise around the Caribbean - and left the kids at home
As a child, if your parents said to you, 'We're going on a Disney cruise,' you'd likely assume you were going with.
So it's no wonder Emma and Matt Willis ' 'Disney-obsessed' children, Isabelle, 15, Ace, 12, and eight-year-old Trixie, were 'so mad' when this happened to them in March, only for them to discover it was an adults-only trip and they were staying with Nanny and Grandad instead.
'They definitely weren't happy about it, especially when we told them it was around the Caribbean' Emma, 49, says in an exclusive interview with MailOnline. 'They were like, 'How can you go without us?'
'It was just that Matt and I had never been on a cruise before - and had been talking about it for a while - and we were offered it during term-time, so we couldn't take the kids out of school.'
The TV presenter continues: 'I love nothing more than my kids being with me when the school holidays come around – I'm not one of these parents that can't wait for them to go back, I want them to be off for longer, and when I go away, most of the time, I want them with me.
'But I do think it's really important that you remember where your family began, and that was with the two of you, so we do try to always remember that and do things just the two of us to recentre, so it was really nice when that was offered.'
At first, Emma admits she and Matt were sceptical about embarking on Disney Cruise Line's new ship, the Disney Fantasy, without the children – having only ever been to Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando with the kids in tow.
She says: 'We would never go to the Disney parks without them, so we were a bit like, 'Is it going to be strange, because it is so catered to kids?'
'But then, when we got there, it's very much like when you go to the parks.
'There are loads of adults that have just grown up with Disney and still love it and don't feel like they need to be there with children to justify why they are there.
Emma was also surprised by how much was on offer for adults on the Disney Fantasy, which they could take full advantage of as 'there was no pressure to do whatever the kids wanted to do' during their break.
She says: 'They have a designated, adults-only section, with a really great, fine-dining, Italian restaurant and different bars, as well as quiz nights, which were really fun.
'There's also a cinema and two theatres, where they put musicals on. We watched Frozen, which was brilliant.
'There's also a spa which was really fantastic!'
But although Emma and Matt enjoyed all the onboard facilities catering to adults, they also embraced their inner children.
'You can't help not, because it is pure Disney,' she says. 'From the minute you walk on the ship, they announce your name to a whole tunnel of people, and it's slightly embarrassing but you have to fully embrace it and go with the magic and the fun.
'The characters are everywhere – as the ship is pulling up to this amazing private island, you'll suddenly see Donald Duck down the other end of the boat.
'There are Mickey waffles every single morning on the buffet, and when you go to the coffee shop, the coffee art is always a different Disney character.
'Then upstairs, on the top deck where the pool is, they've got a water slide and a massive plasma screen at the end of the poo that's always playing a movie.
'So even if you're lying on a deck chair, you're watching Moana or something like that!'
One of Emma's favourite moments of their holiday was Pirate Night, where guests are joined by Captain Hook and Smee from Peter Pan.
She says: 'When I don't have the kids with me, it's like Matt goes into that role, and he becomes really mischievous, which was really fun most of the time, and Pirate Night was brilliant.
'Matt fully got into the spirit of it and did a full-on pirate costume.
'He looked better than Captain Hook, and seeing him have fun always makes me have fun, and it was great for us to be able to do that in that environment, and not have a curfew because of the kids.'
Emma says: 'Matt fully got into the spirit of Pirate Night and did a full-on pirate costume. He looked better than Captain Hook, and seeing him have fun always makes me have fun'
Despite really enjoying their time away without the kids, Emma and Matt are planning to go on their next Disney cruise as a family.
'I don't have a choice, because they're so mad!' she laughs.
And they won't have to travel too far if they go this summer, as the Disney cruise is setting sail from Southampton, around Europe, from August.
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