Oh Disney! Is there anything more magical? I am such a huge Disney fan. I lived in Orlando for several years and had an annual pass to Disney World and I miss being able to go every week! My mom and I still go once a year, but this year she had a big birthday and since she has always wanted to go on a Disney cruise, we did! Of course I was expecting a magical experience…and I’m happy to say it was!
If you’re wondering how to prepare for your first Disney Cruise, then I’ve got you covered! I’m going to go over what to expect on your Disney Cruise, what to pack, Disney Cruise excursions, and other Disney Cruise tips! Some of you might be thinking what is special about a Disney Cruise, and the answer is so much! From the food, characters, Disney touches, staff, destinations and more, Disney keeps the magic going your entire cruise. Keep reading to find out why Disney Cruises are a must and how to get ready for your first magical Disney Cruise.
What to Pack for Your Disney Cruise
Okay, so you’re going on a Disney Cruise, but what do you pack? Besides the normal cruise attire depending on your destination and time of year, please keep in mind that things are going to be kicked up a notch. You’re on a Disney ship, so it is appropriate to bring Disney attire, including clothes, bags, jewelry, and Disney ears! Disney Cruise lines also have a Pirate Night, so be sure you pack a fun pirate outfit! We all wore matching “Best Day Ever” shirts and also took Minnie hats and it was so easy for us to find each other at the ports.
Some other items that will make your life easier are things like a fast wall charger powerstrip like the one below: (Please note that I am an Amazon Affiliate and will receive a commission if you purchase any of the below items. Clicking on the links will take you to Amazon’s site):
Wall Charger Powerstrip – There are only so many outlets in your cabin, and if you’re sharing with someone, you need this! Especially if you have multiple things to charge each night. Don’t let a small thing like having to time outlet sharing to charge your phone make you get annoyed at the other person. This charger block has 6 ports and both USB C and A connector types. Get yours here on Amazon:
Retractable Portable Clothesline – This thing comes in handy! From drying out bathing suits, shorts, tanks, and even towels, you can hang this outside your room on the veranda if you have one, or even inside the shower if you don’t have an outside area. These clips make it so much easier to dry your items instead of hanging them on the towel rack or using hangers. Purchase this item from Amazon’s site here:
Portable Charger – Portable chargers are great for any outing, but they are especially handy for a Disney Cruise! They’re great to recharge your phone on the go when you dock at ports and are exploring or going on an excursion. Don’t let your phone die or stress from a low battery situation (especially if you’re in a room with someone else and they may have hogged the outlets if you didn’t get a fast charger block like I mentioned before!). There are different sizes, shapes, and power amounts, but I have bought Anker portable chargers before and like this one. Grab yours (or one like it) from Amazon here:
Small Crossbody Bag – I am a large purse person. I love my big bags and this was hard, but you do not want to be lugging around a big purse on the beach, during your excursion, or even on a sea day while you’re walking for food or going to lay out or dip in the pools. Find yourself a small purse to use. I love this one because my phone, powder, chapstick, and room key all fit inside it and it’s made with a mesh material that’s waterproof, so perfect for a cruise whether I’m on the ship or by the beach! If you’re more simple, or generally wear shorts with pockets, you may just find a lanyard for your room key. Use my small crossbody bag or find your own by seeing similar items (like crossbody fanny packs which are popular right now) on Amazon through this link:
Packing Cubes – The cabins on any cruise line are small, and Disney is no exception. Make your life easier by purchasing some packing cubes so you can pull these out of your suitcase, organize your cabin, and tuck those suitcases under the bed so you don’t have to keep pulling them out. This set of 8 Packing Cubes from Amazon come in different colors and one bag for you to put them all in as well:
Also! Decorating your cabin door with magnets is a huge deal on a Disney Cruise Line! Have some fun and order magnets for your door. When you walk through the hallways you’re going to love seeing all of the different magnets. From birthdays, to honeymoons, favorite characters, to how many cruises someone has done and more, there’s a magnet for everything. Some people even hang bags for small gift exchanges like candy (or ducks, which you may find in your room at some point!), so you can get into this as well. Alright, let’s talk more about what you can expect on your Disney Cruise in the next section.
Keep in mind that you can purchase some things on the cruise, Disney toys, like Disney attire, lanyards, hats, and other common toiletries like sunscreen, chapstick, deodorant, and toothbrushes. So if you forgot to bring an item, check the stores as they most likely have what you’re missing. I’m going to touch on this in the next sections, but be aware that you’ll have to purchase these items with your room key as the stores will not take a card or cash.
You don’t need to take towels, not even for the ports or excursions. There are plenty of towels on the ship to use and when the ship docks at each port the staff will have towels nearby and/or hand out towels. We went on a 7 night cruise and to save space I brought cute sundresses that I could dress up at night for dinner and then wear the next day with a swimsuit underneath. Our group had the 8:15 dinner slots so we would get ready, maybe grab a drink at a bar before dinner, go to dinner, and then go back to our cabins, so we didn’t spend but a few hours in our dinner attire.
Speaking of dinner, on our ship, the Disney Fantasy, the restaurants were Royal Court, Animator’s Palate, and Enchanted Garden. We rotated each night between the restaurants but kept the same wait staff, and our breakfast if we chose to go to a restaurant instead of the buffet was at the same restaurant each day. We had the best wait staff! They made each meal so much more fun! Each restaurant had its own theme of course. Royal Court had mosaic murals of scenes from the Disney movies, Enchanted Garden had a large fountain in the middle of the restaurant and had flowers that would ‘bloom’ at a designated sunset time for each dinner slot. The most animated restaurant was Animator’s Palate. The first night there were screens that had “Finding Nemo” interaction videos and the other night we all drew our own cartoon and then a show of our animated cartoons played at the end of the meal.
As far as alcohol with dinner, there are bottle packages available for different amounts of bottles each night. If you don’t finish a bottle one night, you can carry it over to the next night. Speaking of alcohol, you can bring two bottles of wine per adult or a six pack of beer onto the cruise ship and same amounts are permitted when you leave the cruise.
What to Expect on Your Disney Cruise
Now let’s talk about things to know before going on a Disney Cruise. There will, of course, be Disney characters on the ship and on Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay! Did you know Disney had its own island? Well of course it does! The meet and greet/photo times will be in your app, and there are so many characters, events, live music, and more in the main lobby during the dinner hours. This is where a lot happens, so plan accordingly!
I’m going to talk more in detail about the Disney Cruise app in one of the sections below, but this app will have everything you need to know for the day and entire length of your cruise (from activity, movie, show, dinner, meet and greet times to destinations, and more!). Get familiar with your Disney Cruise app before you get on the ship (especially to get excursions booked), and enjoy getting more excited about your trip by learning what’s on the ship, what’s in store for you, and the countdown to your Disney Cruise!
What to know about a Disney Cruise, well, each Disney Cruise is different. So you get an idea of my experience, we went on the Disney Fantasy for a 7 night eastern Caribbean Cruise from Port Canaveral with Pixar Day at Sea. Our group thought we only had a Pixar Night instead of a pirate night, but we actually had both! So plan (and pack) your outfits accordingly!
There are plenty of activities for kids aboard, not including their own pool area (with a large screen that plays Disney movies!) and a scavenger hunt we always saw kids doing inside the ship on each floor. Check your app for this list of activities. Note that once you are on the ship you can connect to Disney’s WiFi, but it only really allows you access to the Disney Cruise App. You can pay for an internet package and plenty of people were on social media and some had laptops working. I chose not to purchase an internet package and I have to say I really enjoyed the break from social media.
In addition to a kids section and kids play areas, there is also an adult only section which is nice for those not traveling with kids. Most of my time aboard the ship I spent either laying out and reading or just relaxing. If you’re someone who likes to be constantly doing something, don’t worry, there’s always something to do on the ship! So you can find some sort of entertainment no matter what time it is.
I also signed up for a spa package to the Rain Forest Spa area, so I would go to the saunas before dinner and then take a shower in the nice big showers there and then get changed and put on makeup in my cabin. Our group would usually go to one of the bars before dinner as well and have a drink before our meal. I was really impressed with the bars, dining, and entertainment on board.
Last but not least, expect the best food! My Aunt was in our group and she goes on cruises multiple times a year, but this was her first Disney Cruise and she said the food was the best out of any other cruise line she’s been on! So that’s awesome. The buffet food was amazing! They have healthy options like salmon, salad, veggies and more, and they also offer a variety of Indian food and vegan food and fresh seafood like shrimp and crab legs. I had my first ever crab legs on this cruise and my first ever lobster tail. Fancy. The food was delicious.
Another thing to cover with the food is that there was a section open during the day, even when the main buffet was closed in between meals that offered pizza, hamburgers (and vegan burgers), fries, sandwiches, and fresh fruit. And of course there was an ice cream section! Another little pro tip, you can buy popcorn outside the theater entrances. Get the popcorn! It is delicious! And keep the bucket to get low priced refills (our refills cost around $2, this may differ on your ship). I only did this the last day and wished I would have done this as a snack on the other days. Lesson learned.
So now that we’ve gone over what to expect on your Disney Cruise, let’s get into the excursions and then some tips to make your Disney Cruise even more magical!
Excursions on Your Disney Cruise
The destination ports on a cruise are always exciting, and booking excursions makes them even more so! Before you even get close to your cruise, you’re going to have an option to download your Disney app. Do this immediately! Find out what date you can book excursions and mark your calendar. If you’re going with a group, be sure your group knows what they want to do. If you look in your app and you and your group have booked together (and everyone has signed up for the app), you can make sure you can see everyone in your group on your app. If so, it only takes one person to sign everyone up for the same excursion. Signing up for excursions is similar to joining the virtual queue at Walt Disney World – you want to sign up the second you can, because if you wait even 5 minutes, that excursion may be gone. For a lot of people aboard our ship, it wasn’t their first Disney Cruise and they knew what they were doing.
Pro tip here, make a note that the app is going off of Eastern time, so you can book once it’s the time and date in Eastern time. For example, I live in the Central Time Zone now, so I set an alarm for 11:00 pm (which was 12:00 am in Eastern time) and was able to book the dolphin swim excursion for my entire group. I signed in at 11:00 pm, it took me a few minutes to find the dolphin excursion because I couldn’t remember which port the excursion was at, and the first two time slots were already completely sold out. So if there’s something you have your heart set on (and it’s a popular excursion), set that alarm and make sure you book it the second you can. Don’t wait.
Speaking of the dolphin swim excursion, I had never swam with dolphins before and it was definitely at the top of my highlights from this trip. Highly recommend it.
You can also book things like dinner at other restaurants on the ship (which will cost extra) in advance, or activities on the cruise ship like mixology classes or spa appointments. Once onboard your Disney Cruise Line you can connect to their WiFi and have access to your app, which will list any activities, appointments, or excursions you have that day, your dinner times and restaurant location, firework times (we had 2 nights), the drink of the day (highly recommend paying attention to this one), and also port arrival and disembarkation times as well. The Disney Cruise app is going to be your lifeline on the ship!
We still had to do a Mandatory Guest Assembly Drill (Disney’s version of a mustard drill) once everyone was onboard the ship. Since our cruise was 7 nights, we had 3 days at sea, which I actually enjoyed because I do love to lay out, swim, read, and maybe do a little day drinking. You’re on vacation and I love these days to just be down days where I don’t feel guilty for being lazy and not doing something like I would most likely feel if I had flown or driven to a destination. Enjoy these days!
Like I mentioned in the section above, you can pay for the internet package once you’re aboard the ship. So if you want to stay connected to social media or (sigh) want to work during your cruise, you can do so.
Now, our Disney Cruise Line ship was the Disney Fantasy and we were on a 7 night Eastern Caribbean Cruise from Port Canaveral with Pixar Day at Sea. Our destinations included Tortola and St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Castaway Cay (Disney’s private island. Yes, Disney has its own private island!). We went in February, so while it was chilly in Port Canaveral, it was perfect at the BVIs and Castaway Cay.
Tortola – U.S. Virgin Islands
We did not sign up for an excursion at our first port in Tortola. We asked our wait staff what we should do and they recommended taking a trolley to Cane Garden Bay. Now they drive on the left side of the road in the British Virgin Islands and these tour trolleys are out there to get people to the beach and back quickly. The drive was a total trip, but the beach was amazing. Everything you could want. We heard about the Soggy Dog bar (called this because people will swim to the bar, so the dollars in their wallets are wet), but didn’t get to go – it’s on my list for our next visit.
There was some shopping once you got off the cruise ship, but we had been told by a pro Disney Cruise Liner passenger that the best shopping was in St. Thomas. Glad we listened and enjoyed our day on the beach in Tortola.
St. Thomas – U.S. Virgin Islands
Our next port stop was at St. Thomas, and this was the best place for shopping! The strip of shops is close to the boats and there were restaurants and bars as well. We were able to go out and shop and then get back to the boat to head to our dolphin swim excursion. That’s one thing I would try to plan is going on the first or last excursion of the day so you still have a little time left to spend at each destination.
Castaway Cay – The Bahamas
Castaway Cay! Man, this place was beautiful! This side is the family/kid’s side and is closest to the ship when you disembark. There are trams on the island to take you to different parts of the island. There is an adult only side of the island as well.
One excursion that I wish we had signed up for was the stingray swim! Next time. However there are so many things to do on this island besides laying out, swimming, and enjoying the beautiful water. We took a bike ride, which was beautiful. There was an event for a 5k on the island as well, so if you’re a runner this might interest you.
Do your research for each port destination on your cruise and figure out what you and your group want to do. Excursions really do make a difference on your trip. Sometimes you may feel like you won’t have time to enjoy your destination if you book an excursion, and you might be right. Just plan beforehand, once excursions are booked up, you can try to visit Customer Service once you’re on the ship to see if anything has opened up, but don’t bank on it.
Tips For Your Disney Cruise
Here are some tips for the Best Disney Cruise! To make the most of your cruise, like I mentioned in the section above, plan and then sign up for excursions asap! As pictured above, go on the slide! The slide on the Disney Fantasy is called the AquaDuck, and it is not just for kids! Enjoy all of the different activities that the Disney Cruise Line offers (appropriately of course!
Other tips for your first time Disney Cruise include not overpacking! I know this is a hard one, but everyone in my group agreed that they packed too much. You can do what I did and plan to wear a sundress twice (dressed it up once for dinner and then dressed it down the next day and wore it over swimwear), or just not bring extra outfits. You won’t be changing as often as you think you will (or at least we didn’t). And like I mentioned towards the top of this blog, pack a portable charger. It will come in handy.
If you’re an adult with no kids and going with a group with no kids, take advantage of the adults only sections! We all know and expect that Disney Cruise Lines are family friendly and there will be a lot of kids, so take your own time back if needed when you can. Another area to relax at night is in the bars. Sure, some families will have their kids with them during the time before or after dinner, but once the last dinner starts the families with kids seem to move onto another activity on the ship, character meet and greet, Disney movie, or even bed!
One other thing is to really pay attention to your app. You can view the menus for each dinner, know what time you’ll arrive and leave ports, and know the activities for each day. Believe it or not, time does get away from you, even when you’re spending a day at sea, so check your events in the morning or night before and keep in mind those activities or movies or shows that you don’t want to miss.
I love “Aladdin”, so this is the only show we ended up seeing and I’m glad we did because we didn’t think about going to another show towards the last days of our cruise. Time does go by fast!Also important, your app has the drink of the day listed. You don’t need to know what it is because you can simply just ask for the drink of the day at the bar, but our group found we needed to know what it was each day. It’s the little things sometimes.
Last but not least, while you purchase everything on the Disney Cruise ship and Castaway Cay with your room card (which has a card linked), be sure to take some cash on your for ports. Most places take cards, but for tips or some other smaller shops, take cash just in cash. You will also especially need cash for tips at the end of your cruise. So many people were trying to find ATMs on those last couple of days. Do yourself a favor and get an envelope of cash for tips and put it in the safe in your room so you have it ready.
Have More Questions About a Disney Cruise?
After reading this blog, if you have any other questions about going on a Disney Cruise, leave me a comment below! There’s so much to know, and I know I will be better prepared for my next Disney Cruise! If your Disney Cruise Line is leaving from Port Canaveral, you may want to consider taking some time off before or after your trip to also go to Walt Disney World in Orlando, or even another great spot in Florida, like St. Augustine (which is the oldest city in America, and it’s gorgeous!). Some Disney Cruise Lines leave from New Orleans, which is a great place to spend a day or two before or after your cruise as well!
Learn more about places to visit in Florida here, or read about visiting St. Augustine here. No matter what you choose to do, I hope you have an amazing trip and that you found this blog helpful! Have a magical time on your Disney Cruise!
💜 K. Howell
