disney cruise fantasy reviews

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Disney Fantasy Deck Plans & Reviews

Disney Fantasy

Activities & entertainment

• ConnectATSea *
• Its A Small World Nursery *
• Disneys Oceaneer Club
• Disneys Oceaneer Lab
• Edge _ Tweens Club
• Vibe _ Teens Club
• Senses Spa and Salon *
• Senses Treatment Salons *
• Senses Rainforest Room *
• Couples Villa *
• Senses Fitness Center
• Jogging Track
• Satellite Falls
• Funnel Puddle
• Goofys Sports Deck
• Sports Simulator
• Character Events
• Fitness Classes
• Arts and Crafts Classes
• Deck Parties
• Scavenger Hunts
• Dance Parties
• Extensive Kids Programs
• Pin Trading
• Sing_Alongs
• Video Game Competitions
• Adults_Only Events
• Europa _ Adults_Only Area
• Whirlpools (4)
• Waterslides (2)
• Mickeys Slide
• Shutters Portrait Studio *
• Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique *
• Retail Shops *
• Vista Gallery *
• Guest Services
• Port Adventures *
• Disney Vacation Planning *
• Port Shopping Desk *
• Concierge Lounge _ Suite Guests
• Medical Center
• Walt Disney Theatre
• Buena Vista Theatre
• Disney Movies Onboard
• Funnel Vision
• Nightly Live Music
• Stage Shows
• Enchanted Garden - Rotational Main
• Animators Palate - Rotational Main
• Royal Court - Rotational Main
• Cabanas - Buffet
• Preludes - Theater Snacks *
• La Piazza - Italian Cocktails *
• Vista Cafe - Coffee Bar *
• Skyline - Cocktail Bar *
• Ooh La La - Champagne Bar *
• OGills Pub - Pub *
• Eye Scream_Frozone Treats - Ice Cream
• Beverage Station - Soft Drinks
• Sweet On You - Sweets *
• Flos Cafe_Luigis Pizza_Tow_Maters Grill_Fillmores Favorites - Fast Food
• Cove Cafe - Coffee Bar *
• Senses Juice Bar - Juice Bar
• Cove Bar - Pool Bar *
• Meridian - Nautical Bar *
• Remy - French *
• Palo - Italian *
• Waves Bar - Pool Bar *
• Currents Bar - Pool Bar *
• Bon Voyage - Atrium Bar *
• Room Service
• Excellent 98
• Very Good 10
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Travel Babbo

A Family Travel Blog

A Review of Our Disney Fantasy Caribbean Cruise

By Eric Stoen on March 20, 2023 • Last Updated January 21, 2024 This post may contain affiliate links. Read my Disclosure here .

A Disney Fantasy Cruise in the Western Caribbean

When I posted to Instagram that we were booked on a spring break Disney Fantasy Cruise, a lot of people DMed me to ask why. It’s a reasonable question – although we’ve been on a number of cruises, we don’t love cruises, and we’re not a big Disney family. 

It goes back a decade. When my kids were small, starting at 1, 3 and 5-years-old, we did three 12-night Disney Cruises in Europe . We booked them because they were easy – unpack once and see a lot of cool places – and because Disney is, by definition, family-friendly. Our kids went to the kids club a few times, and waited in line for character photos every once in a while, but really they just enjoyed the ship and the independence, since they could run around by themselves, and we (the parents) liked the days in port. 

There’s a sweet spot with Disney cruises, between maybe 3 and 10-years-old, when a lot of kids love Disney and the character interactions and shows are magical. Then the magic kind of disappears….except that my oldest daughter always watched the teens on the ship and thought they were having the most fun. On our last cruise she made us promise to bring her back when she was a teen. And this year, at 17, she took us up on it. 

A Disney Fantasy Cruise for Spring Break

As I’ve mentioned before, my youngest daughter has one-week school breaks in February and April, and my two high schoolers have a two-week break in March. This year my wife and I took our 13-year-old to Thailand for her February break , and then I was tasked with the Disney Cruise in March. Looking at Disney’s cruises, they only had one option for a 7-night cruise that fit within our spring break dates – the March 11-18 Western Caribbean sailing. The port stops on the itinerary weren’t exciting, but this wasn’t about the stops; it was about my daughter (hopefully) having fun on the ship with other teens. We dragged my 15-year-old son along since he had nothing else planned for break.

This Disney Caribbean Cruise Review

I hadn’t intended to write about our cruise, but so many people have commented on my Instagram posts and stories with questions about the cruise, wanting my honest thoughts about Disney cruises for families and for couples, that I’m writing this up. Just keep in mind that it’s coming from a cruise skeptic and a non-Disney person. If you love cruises and you love Disney and your kids love Disney, you can stop reading now. Just book it! You’ll love it. 

Disney Cruises – What Disney Does Well

We spent a few days at Universal Orlando before our cruise and then took an Uber from Sapphire Falls Resort to the Disney Cruise Terminal at Port Canaveral (1.5 hours with traffic, $58 plus a very good tip). Check-In was bizarrely easy. Getting out of our Uber, port personnel immediately took our checked suitcases. We then proceeded inside, well before our assigned arrival time, checked in right away with no wait, and were on the ship less than 5 minutes later. This was completely different than our last European cruise with Disney where check-in in Copenhagen was a disorganized nightmare. If you’re sailing from Port Canaveral from Disney’s Terminal 8, expect things to be easy. Then our luggage was delivered to our cabin a couple hours later, far earlier than promised. 

The Disney Fantasy itself

This trip we sailed on the Disney Fantasy. The ship is very nice – the attention to detail is impressive, and the ship’s nicer than a lot of others I’ve been on. We had a “Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah”. The two bathrooms worked out really well – my son and I had our things in the bathroom with the toilet, and my daughter took over the one with a shower. Speaking of the shower, it was excellent – really well-designed and larger than most ship showers, and the water pressure was better than at a lot of hotels. I like that there was a curtain between my bed and the kids’ beds, effectively turning the cabin into two bedrooms at night. I loved the main cabin door – it actually closed quietly so I could sneak out in the morning for coffee and not wake anyone. The balcony was great too. FYI, we were in cabin 7090 and loved it – a perfect mid-ship location. 

Dinners on a Disney Fantasy cruise rotate among three themed restaurants – Royal Court, Enchanted Garden and Animator’s Palate. Animator’s Palate is by far the best-designed – playful and creative, with interactive elements. 

Disney-Themed Things

At the beginning of the year I traveled to Antarctica with Adventures By Disney on an amazing trip and I liked that there were Disney elements but not too many. Antarctica was the star. That’s not the case with Disney Cruise Line though. Disney art, characters, shows and music are omnipresent. If you love or even just like Disney, you’ll enjoy it. For us it’s fine – impossible to ignore and we wouldn’t book a cruise because of it, but not a big deal. It’s fun to see kids walking around dressed up like pirates and princesses – kind of Halloween in March. And there were current Disney films playing in the theater every day.

The Staff and Service

I was impressed with the efficiency at which the Disney Fantasy cruise staff got us on and off the ship at every port stop, with our server at every dinner, and with all other staff that we interacted with (with the exception of the Vibe teen club staff, but I’ll get to that). Our cabin attendant was pretty good as well. On other Disney Cruises I’ve questioned some of the automatic gratuities, feeling like people didn’t always deserve them. I had no such thoughts on this cruise though. 

The Inclusions 

Food and soda are included in your cruise fare, with exceptions. And I was impressed that a Disney person handed out towels at every cruise stop. I forgot to pack towels and wasn’t sure if I should try to sneak some from the pool deck for our port excursions. No need – they give them to you. And free coffee is always available on the pool deck. 

I’ve felt like staff on other cruises were always trying to sell us on things – drink packages, art, onboard shopping, port excursions, future cruises. Disney doesn’t do that. You can purchase any of those things, but they’re not in your face. I really appreciate that. 

The Disney Cruise App

Disney used to deliver daily briefings, on paper, to every cabin at night. They were a huge waste of paper, especially in Europe where Disney didn’t have shopping partnerships and the briefings were sometimes 50% blank. They’ve moved everything to the Disney Cruise App, which works well on board. There’s passenger messaging within the app too, so I could communicate with my kids. If I could suggest three improvements, they would be:

• Please include the current time in the app. We had time zone changes and a daylight savings time switch during our cruise and people were often confused about what time it was, since we couldn’t trust our cell phones. 
• It would be great to send photos within the messaging platform, like of the lunch buffet if one kid was still in the room.
• I’d love to be able to add my own things to the schedule instead of only selecting from Disney’s pre-programmed options. Through a Facebook group a lot of the solo parents on board planned get-togethers. I couldn’t add those to my daily app calendar though and missed some of them.

Disembarkation

There’s no way to quickly get 3,800 passengers off a ship at the end of a cruise, but Disney does a pretty good job. It took us roughly half an hour to leave the ship, go through immigration/customs and get to the Disney airport bus. FYI, buses were leaving as quickly as they were filling up. We had a seated breakfast at 8:10am, got in line to leave the ship just after 8:30, were on a bus at 9:00 and at MCO airport at 10:00, well before our 12:34pm flight to LA. It would be amazing if they could add a Global Entry line at the port – it’s the first time we’ve waited in line for US passport checks in ten years! FYI, no issues on our flight back. We grabbed our car at LAX parking and were home by 6pm – not a bad travel day.

What Disney Could Improve On

Disney outsources its spa and fitness center to a company called One Spa World. One Spa World also manages the spas for most other major cruise lines, including Celebrity, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Holland America, Princess and Virgin. The problem is they’re publicly-traded and they, and their employees, have a financial incentive to upsell you. I booked a 50-minute massage for the first at-sea day. It was the worst massage I’ve ever had. The spa personnel and massage therapist tried to upsell me six times in an hour, which ruined the experience. Massages are supposed to be relaxing! And when I posted about it on Instagram, I received over 50 comments from others with similar negative cruise experiences that almost all went back to spas run by One Spa World. My massage, with gratuity, was over $180. But I also, according to them, needed an upgrade from soft/medium pressure to medium/firm pressure for $30, orthotics for $199, a skin brush for $45, body oil for $65 and refreshing gel for $59. Please put a stop to this Disney! This is a horrible experience for everyone getting massages on board. And after declining all of the add-ons, I’m pretty sure my masseuse dumbed down my massage. Of the 50 minutes I paid for, only 35 or so was spent on my body. The rest was a really weak head massage. Such a letdown, and not worth anywhere close to $180. 

The food onboard the Disney Fantasy was ok. I mean, everything sounds great on the menus, but then it comes to the table and it’s…ok. One staff member even commented that he could make a certain dish better than Disney. I understand that the kitchen staff is feeding 3,800 passengers on board every day, which is a crazy undertaking that I don’t pretend to have a grasp of, but I wish things tasted a little better.

I should note that I had an excellent brunch at Disney’s adults-only restaurant Palo for $45, which is some of the best money I spent. But that just served to show that there are people on board who know how to cook well. The pizza at Palo was so much better than the poolside pizza at Luigi’s. Why not make better pizza for everyone? 

Other thoughts: It would be great to have a buffet dinner option if you don’t feel like a rotational sit-down dinner. Indian entrée options would have been nice at lunch and dinner. And there’s a food dead spot between 6pm and 9pm at the casual places near the pool. That’s fine for people with the early dinner seating, but for us (with an 8:15 dining time every night), if we were hungry at 6:15 and needed something small to tide us over, the only option was room service. They should keep something open later than 6pm. 

Weird Pricing

My daughter loves Diet Coke. It was free if she got it herself by the pool or in the restaurants, or if a server in a restaurant brought it to her. But if a server from the bar or room service brought it to her, there was a charge of a couple dollars. Given that Disney Cruises don’t usually nickel and dime guests, it seems like a strange thing to charge for. They should be 100% consistent – included means included.

The Vibe Teens Club

My daughter had a lot of negative things to say about the staff at the Vibe Teens Club (for 14-17-year-olds). She and her friends just wanted a place to hang out, but it sounds like that’s not an option. If there was an event like karaoke or Disney trivia planned and you were in Vibe, you had to participate, and the other areas of the club were closed off when scheduled activities were going on. So she and her friends had to constantly move elsewhere on the ship. And there’s a Vibe sun deck, but it wasn’t open most of the time. Overall she says the counselors treated the teens like little kids, and were constantly disrespectful (except Casey). I heard the same thing from other parents, so it wasn’t just her. So disappointing since this should have been the primary teen hangout and the counselors continually sabotaged that.

St. Patrick’s Day

St Patrick’s Day is my favorite food holiday and is always fun to celebrate. A lot of passengers wore green. Disney did…nothing. I wish meals had been St. Patrick’s Day-themed, with boxty, corned beef, potatoes, colcannon, soda bread and all other traditional Irish foods. There were no themed character appearances, no decorations, no green pools, no green soft-serve, no Irish food, no related activities – it was like every other day. Such a wasted opportunity to have fun! Beware if you’re booking a Disney Cruise over a holiday.

Light Switches

It seems like the most basic thing in the world to me: put bathroom light switches inside the bathrooms. That way if it’s dark you can go in, close the door and then turn on the light, so you don’t wake up everyone in the cabin by flooding it in light. Yet Disney put the two bathroom light switches outside the bathrooms. Every night my daughter came back to the cabin between 3am and 5am. She was quiet, but as soon as she turned on the bathroom lights, it woke me up. Grrrrr. How did you get this so wrong Disney?

3,800 people are too many on what’s essentially a floating resort. The pools were packed, especially on days at sea. We preferred the smaller Disney Magic (2,400 passengers), and we like smaller ships even more.

Our Disney Fantasy Cruise

Having said all that, we had a good cruise overall. The Disney cruise was my daughter’s idea and I went into it thinking she would be disappointed. But she made great friends and stayed out until 3am or later every night with them, so from her perspective it was a success. My son and I hung out, played shuffleboard, threw a football in our cabin a lot, went to the fitness center daily, read and relaxed. There are worse places to spend a week than on a really nice ship.

Our Disney Fantasy cruse port stops were in Cozumel, Mexico, Grand Cayman, Falmouth, Jamaica and Disney’s Castaway Cay in the Bahamas. We went onshore at all four. In Cozumel and Grand Cayman we walked around a little and got lunch. In Jamaica we hired a driver for the day, Richard Brooks of Excursion Ocho Rios . Richard picked us up at 8am, took us to Dunn’s River Falls for a fun hour of waterfall hiking, drove us all around Ocho Rios, and then took us to lunch before we returned to the ship at 3pm. It was a great day. Castaway Cay was a lot of fun – far more than I was expecting. We took a water ball, football and frisbee and threw all three in the ocean and on the beach. We also rode bikes around the island paths several times. 

In a perfect world I would have selected more interesting ports, or at least places that I haven’t been before, but there weren’t any other options that fit into our spring break dates. A Disney Caribbean Cruise is more about the ship and Disney experience than the ports though – kind of the opposite of their Europe sailings for us. Our favorites were in reverse order of the stops: 1) Castaway Cay; 2) Jamaica; 3) Grand Cayman; and 4) Cozumel. 

I highly recommend Disney Cruises for families with young kids – under 10 or so. For couples and families of older children, if you don’t really love Disney, I’m not sure that it’s worth it? I loved sailing on the Celebrity Edge, and thought the food on the Edge was better than on the Disney Fantasy. If Celebrity Edge -class sailings are priced better than Disney, and especially if the ports are more interesting, I’d probably opt for those instead.

How much is a Disney Cruise?

Our Disney Fantasy 7-night sailing was $8,864 for three of us. That’s a lot of money and the reason why I’m a little negative above. Disney overall delivers a very good experience, but can do better – especially when it comes to food, the spa and the Vibe teen club. I noted that we were in a Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom. There are cheaper options available, including interior rooms. There are also more expensive rooms and, of course, if you have more people in your family it’s more expensive. 

We Ubered from Universal Orlando for $58. We paid twice that, $117, for a Disney transfer to Orlando Airport after the cruise, since I didn’t know how difficult it would be to order an Uber or Lyft from Port Canaveral. 

My massage was $185.82 with tip. Standard gratuities were $304.50. My daughter spent around $90 on internet access. Bicycles in Castaway Cay were $26 for two of us. Brunch at Palo was $55 with tip. Laundry was $7. Our driver for the day in Jamaica was $260. Dunn’s River Falls was $25/person. Internet seemed a little high at $24/device/day for the middle tier, and my massage was an absolute waste of money. 

I should note that on our Adventures By Disney trip in January on an expedition ship gratuities were included, as were sodas and premium coffees, and there was coffee in the rooms. If Adventures By Disney can do that, I would think Disney Cruise Line could do that too. Automatic gratuities are like Resort Fees – completely unnecessary. Just build them into the overall pricing to make it easier for people to compare vacation options. 

Disney Fantasy Cruise – Health

Passengers on our sailing seemed healthy, and Disney made sure the ship stayed clean. Most hand sanitizer stations looked to be empty, but staff handed out disinfecting wipes to everyone before heading into the restaurants. I only saw three families regularly wearing masks on board.

I averaged 12,000 steps a day while on the cruise and worked out daily. I lost two pounds and was in better shape after the cruise than before. I didn’t go crazy at buffets or drink.

I took along our medical kit from Duration Health but didn’t need it. My kids took maybe six Dramamine tablets total when they were feeling the motion of the ship. After Antarctica in January, I’m pretty sure I’m immune to minor ship swaying. We likewise didn’t need to use our travel health/cancellation policy from G1G Travel, but given how expensive the cruise was, and the fact that we would have lost 100% of the cruise cost if we canceled within 14 days and 75% if we cancelled within 29 days, I was glad we were protected.

Disney Fantasy Cruise – Packing

We packed light for our Disney Fantasy cruise. We didn’t bring door decorations or alcohol or clothes specifically for formal night or semi-formal night, and we didn’t bring costumes. The weather was warm everywhere. We easily could have gotten by with swimsuits, shorts, a couple t-shirts, slightly nicer shirts (and dresses) for dinners, sunscreen, flip-flops and walking shoes. I wore pants, a button-down shirt and nice shoes for my brunch at Palo, but Palo is optional. My daughter wore a hoodie for her late-night partying since the decks cooled down at night. We had two half-filled Patagonia rolling duffels thinking we may shop at the ports, but we didn’t buy anything. Per my Castaway Cay comments above, we were glad we brought balls and a Frisbee for the beach.

Disney Caribbean Cruises – Your Turn

Have you taken a Disney cruise in the Caribbean with your kids? How do your thoughts (pro/con/good/bad) compare to mine? Please comment below!

And I have a post on how to decide if a Disney cruise is right for your family , summarizing all of my thoughts from our four cruises.

More from Travel Babbo

January 21, 2024 at 8:36 am

Thank you for your review, and I agree for the most part. Having cruised 12 times with Disney, I got used to the food. The first 2 or 3 years, I ate off of the children’s menu, but eventually learned to enjoy the higher class of food above a burger and fries. The events are great, the guest costuming is fabulous, but the after dinner snacks were few and there was no late night buffet except for Pirate night. Very expensive is the only way to describe a Disney cruise, but you do get a lot more that what some other ships offer. You are paying for a 5 star experience in the dining room, up on deck, in your room and in your entertainment. All the other cruise lines are playing catch up with Disney. It is worth the one time experience, but at the lower price tiers, their is a lot of competition.

January 21, 2024 at 8:49 am

Oh, by the way, I believe you can still get a copy of the paper Navigator with the days activities at the concierge desk or from your room steward, at least at Royal Caribbean you could. For us seniors who have difficulty with the app life, the paper version is needed, and also I did not care for the pay for ice cream salon… again a nickel and dime-ing that Disney is not known for. Finally, they need more on board activities on at sea days. 90% of the offerings are alcohol related tastings. Cooking, towel folding, origami, etc. I do appreciate the DVC members meeting, they should have more DVC sponsored events.

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Disney Fantasy

Courtesy of Disney Cruise Line |

Find a Cruise on Disney Fantasy

with a cruise advisor

Disney Fantasy launched in 2012 and underwent a dry dock in 2017. The ship features activities such as Pixar Day at Sea, Disney's Aladdin – A Musical Spectacular and the 765-foot AquaDuck water ride.

Staterooms are designed with families in mind. Inside cabins can accommodate up to four guests, and over 85% of the ship's cabins have an ocean view or a veranda. All cabins are outfitted with flat-screen TVs, minifridges and iPod docking stations.

Onboard entertainment is just as family-oriented, with Goofy’s Sports Deck activity center, a virtual sports simulator (for an extra fee), nightly live performances and 3D movies. While younger guests play in age-appropriate youth clubs, adults can relax at the Quiet Cove Pool or enjoy an evening at an adults-only bar or lounge.

When it comes to dining, the ship offers 10 themed dining venues, including two adults-only specialty venues, three main dining rooms and an ice cream shop: Sweet on You.

Fantasy sails from  Port Canaveral (Orlando), Florida , to the Bahamas , Bermuda and a variety of ports in the Caribbean.

U.S. News Insider Tip : Between Palo and Remy is a secluded adults-only bar called Meridian. The bar is known for its martini program, where the bartenders will ask you a few questions and then whip up something off-menu for you to enjoy inside or outside on the exclusive patio. (Meridian can also be found on the Disney Dream ). – Megan duBois, Contributor

Pros & Cons

More than 85% of rooms offer ocean views or verandas

Some onboard activities cost extra

• Expert Rating » 4.0
• Traveler Rating » 4.5
• Health Rating » 5.0

Disney Fantasy ranks # 2 out of 5 Disney Cruise Line Cruise Ships based on an analysis of expert and user ratings, as well as health ratings.

• # 2 in Best Disney Cruise Line
• # 3 in Best Cruises for Groups
• # 4 in Best Cruises for Families
• # 11 in Best Cruises to the Caribbean
• # 12 in Best Luxury Cruises

Disney Fantasy offers a wide range of accomodation options. Browse cabins to find the stateroom that suits your needs.

Disney Fantasy contains 14 decks. Find out which features are available on each Disney Fantasy deck.

Traveler Reviews

A ship’s traveler rating is provided under license by Cruiseline.com , which manages one of the largest databases of cruise reviews and ratings by travelers. A total of 462 guests have reviewed Disney Fantasy , giving it a rating of 4.5 on a scale of 1-5.

Cruiseline Travel Rating:

Reviews by traveler type.

Ship Photos

Disclaimers about ship ratings: A ship’s Health Rating is based on vessel inspection scores published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). If a ship did not receive a CDC score within 22 months prior to the calculation of its Overall Rating, its Health Rating appears as N/A; in such a case, the ship’s Overall Rating is calculated using the average Health Rating of all CDC-rated ships within the cruise line. All ship Traveler Ratings are based on ratings provided under license by Cruiseline.com.

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TRAVEL RESOURCE LIBRARY

Independent Travel Advisors   |

[email protected] .

• Oct 11, 2016

Review: Disney Fantasy, Cruise Ship

Beautiful ship, but may be lacking for adults.

CRUISE SHIP : Disney Fantasy.

OCCUPANCY:  2,500 (double occupancy), 4,000 maximum.

PORT & ITINERARY : Port Canaveral roundtrip.  Tortola, St. Thomas, Castaway Cay (Bahamas)

WEBSITE:  Disney Fantasy

This entire review is written from an Adults Only perspective, we do not have children.

We recently completed our first Disney Cruise aboard the Fantasy and we were excited to see what the “Disney Experience” was all about. We’re seasoned cruisers with this being our 7th cruise aboard 5 different cruise lines; Princess , Holland America , Royal Caribbean , Celebrity , and now Disney. This was an adults-only cruise for our 20th Wedding Anniversary, we thought that was fitting since our honeymoon was spent at Disney World. There’s a lot to love about Disney and some things fall short for adults. So here’s our honest assessment of the Disney Fantasy and the overall Disney cruise experience.

BOOKING THE CRUISE

My wife’s research into Disney Cruise Lines showed that they work their cabin pricing on supply and demand. As the supply dwindles, the cost of the same cabin will increase. So the strategy to get the best cabin rate is to book your cabin the same day Disney opens up booking. Disney Cruise Line pricing is generally premium with a similar cabin often costing significantly less on another line, especially during peak seasons. We always book a Verandah cabin as we love having a balcony. For this cruise we booked just off-season, sailing on Sept. 10th and Cabin 7194 was priced at $3,100 for two people. So by booking off-season, we were able to get a cabin rate that’s right in line with a similar cabin level on other ships we’ve cruised. So plan ahead and keep an eye out on the Disney Cruise Critic Forums for Disney booking dates. Repeat cruisers can book their cabins in advance of first-timers, so you’ll see them start posting that they were able to book their cabins, so you’ll know that the general booking date will soon

One travel tip, purchase Disney Cruise Line luggage tags for your luggage.  These are actually sized for all Cruise Line tags so they don’t get ripped or damaged in transit from the port curbside to your door.  There are versions that are cruise line-specific as well.

PRE-BOOKING DINNERS AND EVENTS

Disney places a premium on return passengers so as a first time Disney guest, we were basically “at the end of the line” for trying to book anything in advance. While every cruise line has incentives for return guests, this was by far the most restrictive of any cruise line we’ve experienced. With every other ship, whether our first or return trip, we’ve been able to book all of the dinners and experiences without an issue. It might come late in the cruise, but we’ve been able to book and try dinners and elements. With Disney, we were unable to book brunch at Palo in advance as that list was full, but we were able to book it once onboard thankfully. Due to the steep price of Remy, we were able to book that for our anniversary dinner.

The same can be said of the cabanas on Castaway Cay, the Disney private island. You can pretty much guarantee you will NOT get a cabana as a first time Disney guest, especially in the adult area, Serenity Bay, where there are only 4 cabanas.

So be aware that as a first time Disney guest, you may not be able to pre-book experiences that you would like to see or do and quite possibly won’t get to do them at all. Especially if you’re sailing on a full ship. You can only hope that there are still some openings when you first board, but again, as a first-time guest, you’ll be among the last to board the ship. With our sailing, I heard we were just north of 3,000 guests so definitely not a full ship.  

EMBARKATION AND PORT PARKING – PORT CANAVERAL

Here Disney has it down to a science and this was the smoothest and easiest embarkation of any cruise line we’ve sailed. You will be assigned a specific check-in time to arrive at the Disney terminal along with a boarding group number. Do not arrive too much earlier than your assigned check-in time because Disney will not let you board until your group number is called. This actually creates a really smooth and frustration free boarding process because you’re not sitting around in a huge “cattle pen” waiting with a few thousand of your new friends waiting to board.

We had an 11:45 am check-in time so we arrived at the port around 11:15 and drove directly into the first Disney Check-In. Here they check the IDs of everyone who is going to be boarding the ship before you’re allowed to proceed to the drop off area. At the drop-off area, a porter was waiting to help with the bags and then I drove directly to the parking garage right alongside the pier. Time for all of this was less than 10 minutes. Super easy.

IF YOU ARE PARKING YOUR CAR AT THE PORT, be sure to know your cabin number and have your photo ID with you after you park your car. You will need to show your ID again and they will ask for your cabin number when you walk from the parking garage back to the cruise terminal. 

An additional parking tip: If you are driving in from out of town, there are multiple Cape Canaveral / Cocoa Beach hotels that offer parking discounts for the port. We stayed two nights at the Hampton Inn Cocoa Beach using one of their Cruise and Park Specials prior to the cruise and got 40% off the cruise port parking. 

Once inside it was less than 10 minutes until we were checked in and had our Keys to the World cabin key. So that took us to about 11:35 am and we were boarding group 12. There is great signage around the terminal telling you which boarding group is currently going in and they were at 9 when we finished. About 10 minutes later, group 12 was called it was time to board. About 30 minutes from the time we arrived we were boarding the ship and we never really felt like cattle going through endless lines like every other cruise line. 

One other great perk from Disney, they had a separate line if you wanted to avoid the obligatory terrible photo before you board the ship. Loved that. Now the cabins are not ready to enter until 1:30 pm so we prepared for that by only bringing on board a few small bags of necessities including swimwear in case we wanted to hang out by the pool. We did end up going near the stairwell for Deck 7 (our deck) around 1:15 which was a HUGE mistake. Just a mass of bodies loitering waiting for the ropes to drop so they could get to their rooms and then we were basically stuck. DO NOT go near your room until 1:45 pm if you can help it. You’re just going to be in a warm mass of bodies. Go sit in Cabanas or out by the pool or really just anywhere except the stairwells. After 1:45 the areas should be clear of all the early loiterers and you’re good to go to your cabin. 

If you are traveling without children,  note that Embarkation is about the only time you’re allowed as an adult to just wander and explore the Oceaneer’s Club which features an oversized  Andy’s Room from Toy Story, a  Monster’s Inc  room, and various other rooms that really do bring out the kid in you.  I encourage you to go explore and take some pictures of this area before the ship sets sail, it really is an awesome space to take some memorable pictures. 

As I mentioned previously, we were in cabin 7194 which is in the center of the stern of the ship. The cabin itself was a good size with lots of storage in both of the dual closets plus plenty of room under the bed for all our luggage. Easily the most standard storage space of any ship we have sailed so far. There was a chokepoint between the end of the bed and the wall where only one person can get by, that was a bit of pain at times, but not awful. It’s not uncommon to have this in verandah/balcony cabins as the beds are almost always sideways in the room.

We really liked the split bathroom design with the toilet and shower split into two rooms, however, we both hated the positioning of the light switches between the doors.  When going into the shower, the switch was behind the door so we were constantly stepping out of the doorway, closing the door, turning on the light, and then back into the shower room.  BUT we did like the split bathroom concept which gave us two sinks and plenty of room for toiletries.  These were also the first bathrooms we’ve had finished in tile.  Most ship rooms are usually that plastic paneling prefab look.  Definitely made the bathrooms look a bit nicer.  Towels were a bit thin and not as absorbent as other ships, but functional.  My wife loved the dual drying lines over the tub, usually, you just get one, but it’s nice to have the two especially after pool and beach visits.

If you have mobility issues, be aware that the step into the tub for the shower is quite high.  The tub sides basically came up to our knees and we’re in the 5’ 6” height area so if you have mobility issues, you might want to consider a handicap cabin.

Inside the cabin, you’ll find a good-sized fridge and the TV features most all Disney and Pixar films on demand.  This is especially great when you’re getting ready in the mornings or before dinner to have a fun film playing in the background.

We usually try to book an aft cabin because we enjoy the vibrations from the engines which help us sleep, we love the sound of the prop wash which is a waterfall-like sound and we especially love that the aft balconies are usually a bit larger than the other cabins in the same category.   This was easily the largest balcony we’ve ever had on any ship, even when we’ve booked a junior suite on other ships.   Plenty of room for two full lounge chairs plus two regular chairs and a small table.   That being said, the design of the aft meant that HALF most of the balcony was uncovered.  We prefer ships that have a different angle on the back so most of the balcony is covered, but that’s not the Fantasy was designed.  In addition to being more exposed, the balcony was exceptionally dirty from exhaust soot from the main engines.  So there was a trade-off with the aft balcony.  Larger space than many other cruise lines, but less cover and dirt from the exhaust.

Our room Hostess (also known as a room steward or cabin attendant on other ships) was Gaeliza and she was simply AWESOME.  We felt her service was the best we’ve received on any ship, with Celebrity service being a close second.  She was incredibly friendly, personable, took care of all our needs, and really had a great time with the towel animals, even giving me a momentary scare one evening with the monkey on the toilet.  That was absolutely hilarious and we were very sad to say goodbye to Gaeliza at the end of our cruise.

A great tip for extra storage in the room is to get a wall hanging, canvas shoe rack like this one , and hang that on the bathroom door.  Disney does NOT allow over-the-door hangers to be used in the cabin so you’ll need to get some magnetic door hooks like these if you want to use a canvas shoe rack.  We’ve used that for almost every cruise we’ve been on.  Also, there’s generally just one or two outlets available in a cabin and most cruise lines have now outlawed power strips, power squids, and extension cords that have a cord on them.  So get yourself a power cube like this one that also features some USB outlets to charge up your various devices.  Another handy dandy storage tip are these   12” x 12” folding cubes  that can be placed in cabinets, under the bed, or elsewhere in your cabin.

INTERNET and DISNEY CRUISE APP

Disney has set the internet standard that I wish everyone in the cruise industry would follow.  They charge by the data usage, NOT the time spent online.  I paid less than $100 for 60MB of usage because I only planned to check emails.  So instead of charging me for the time I was online, Disney only charged me for how much data I downloaded.  Since it was all emails, 60MB was more than enough for the entire cruise.  On every other cruise line I’ve had to add extra internet service because the service is so slow I always run out of minutes by the 5th day of a 7-day cruise.

For speed, I had no issues downloading emails or updating Facebook and a friend who had unlimited internet service said she was able to stream Netflix shows with minimal issues so the speed is plenty fast on-board.

Now the Disney Cruise App, well that was outstanding.   First off, the app is FREE TO USE ONBOARD without the need to pay for internet service.  Simply log into the WiFi system as directed by the app and you can use that app for the entire cruise at no additional cost.  The biggest thing the Disney app includes is in-app messaging to anyone else on-board so you can stay in contact with people in your party or anyone else you meet.  So you can text anyone on-board, for free, which is OUTSTANDING when you’re on a 1,000+ foot ship with 15 decks. That’s an awesome way to easily stay in touch with everyone. The app also includes the entire daily schedule, the restaurant menus, the ability to select ‘favorite’ activities and receive notifications that they’re about to start.   So you’ll never miss an activity or event on-board because you forgot to write it down.  Your smartphone will give you an alert and off you go.  

DINING (including Vegetarian options and Coffee)

We typically don’t use assigned dining times on our cruises opting for “anytime” dining, but with Disney, you have to follow a dining rotation. Disney is also the first ship we’ve sailed on without a buffet option for dinner. There are reasons to both like and not like Disney dining. 

I start with coffee because I LOVE COFFEE and that’s always one of the things I test right away on a ship, the free coffee. The free coffee that is available at most of the drink stations has a chicory flavor to it that I really didn’t enjoy. The coffee on Celebrity and even Royal was better. BUT there are plenty of places to get a good coffee, for a fee including Cabanas bar, Cove Café, Meridian bar, Vista bar , and any place where you see an espresso machine. Fees are not bad averaging between $4 – $8 for cappuccinos and lattes. I also recommend a shot of Godiva dark chocolate for your evening coffee or cappuccino. 

Breakfast we usually had in Cabanas each morning. This buffet is much smaller than other cruise ships we’ve sailed of the same size, but the quality of the food is quite good. We never had a problem finding a seat in Cabanas either and sat inside each day. There is a “made to order” omelet station where they deliver the omelet to your table. I tried this twice, the first time it worked, the second time the wrong omelet showed up at our table after 15 minutes and the server disappeared before I could tell her. I gave up on that option after that second time and simply went with whatever was available. You can order specialty coffees, cappuccinos, and espressos at the bar in the back of Cabanas. Zhang made some great cappuccinos for me over the course of the week.

For dinner services, we were lucky to have been assigned Marlan and Eddy as our servers for the week at Table 65 along with Head Server Howard. They made us feel like family from the first evening in Enchanted Garden . Enchanted Garden was by far our favorite dining room with the decor and ambiance just a lovely space to eat dinner. The Royal Court was the most uninspired dining room and felt like a “standard cruise ship dining room” that you would find on older cruise ships. Animator’s Palette felt very much like a large diner, a very whimsical and fun diner. The choices for each meal, including vegetarian options were numerous except for one meal which I’ll mention shortly. 

With our dining rotation, we ended up eating at most of the dining rooms twice with a specialty dinner taking up the 7th evening. We found the food consistently very good, some of the best food we’ve eaten in our years of cruising, and would put it on par with Celebrity. There were a few misses in the dining rooms of course but overall, the dining experience was great both for us meat-eaters and vegetarians. 

I’ll mention the two dining experiences at Animator’s Palette because they are different and honestly we would have skipped the second meal had we realized what it was like. For the first meal, it’s a standard dinner and you’re joined by Crush the turtle from Nemo. He goes around the entire room via video monitors over the course of the meal interacting with the guests which is quite fun. Now the second time through the meal, it’s an animation themed dinner with a limited menu where the first thing you’re asked to do is draw characters on supplied paper. Those characters will be animated later in the meal during a show on the video monitors. The problem is that you’re given that limited menu so they can rush you through the meal and get to the “animation show.” I’ll say that the animation show is clever how it’s put together but it’s only about 5 minutes and there’s no need to rush us all through dinner so they can get to the show. I don’t understand why they can’t simply pause the meal between appetizers and main course or main course and dessert to run the “show.” Additionally, there no vegetarian options for appetizers, soup, or salad on the menu at the second Animator’s Palette dinner. We just felt like the entire meal was rushed and the menu limited for no reason. The second Animator’s Palette dinner would be a good evening to schedule a specialty meal at Palo or Remy.

Again, I’ll mention that there is NO buffet for dinner. Cabanas is open for dinner, but it is a sit-down, served meal. Sometimes after a long day or for whatever reason, a buffet is nice in the evenings because it’s flexible, but you won’t get that here. 

Luigi’s Pizza / Tow-Mater’s Grill / Filmore’s Favorites / Eye-Scream are all part of the Flo’s Cafe, quick service area. Except for Eye Scream which stays open pretty much all day, the others all have various open and close times so check the Navigator each day for their hours of operation. Luigi’s Pizza had great toppings, but the crust had the flavor of cardboard. Tow-Mater’s Grill had decent fish sandwiches, veggie sandwiches, and french fries. Filmore’s Favorites actually had some really good wrap sandwiches that took care of hunger without weighing you down. Eye-Scream has soft-serve ice cream and usually has a mix of three different flavor combinations. Depending on when the machine was last loaded, you might get a frozen treat or you might get something that’s more like a smoothie consistency, but the flavors were decent for soft serve. One smart little girl brought over a drink cup and had her ice cream in that, so it didn’t matter what consistency came out. 

Palo is the Italian-themed specialty restaurant which at the time of our cruise was $35 per person for brunch which is when we were able to book a time.   There is both a menu and a buffet service available, or you can simply mix the two which is what we did.   Service was impeccable and what I really appreciated is that they made absolutely no attempt to rush us out or assume we were done with the meal just because our plates were empty.  Multiple times, the server would check to ensure that we did not want to go back to the buffet, order something else from the menu, etc…. just making sure we enjoyed the meal and were properly stuffed.  The quality of both the served food and buffet was good.  Not exceptional, but good.  The presentations were outstanding and the cheese selection was amazing.  But overall, the food to me felt like it was on par with some of the best food that came from the main dining service.    Very glad we did this meal because we enjoyed the great service, and maybe the dinner service is a bit different, but I would not do the brunch again.

Remy is in a class by itself when it comes to fine dining on the seas, at least what we have experienced so far.  It’s certainly one of the most expensive specialty dining experiences at $85 per person at the time we sailed but for our 20th wedding anniversary, it was a wonderful place on the sea to celebrate.   There were four of us and we were seated in the Wine Room completely surrounded by amazing bottles from all over the globe including the John Lasseter private collection.  Our primary server, Lidwine, appeared to be exclusively ours for the evening as she never left the room for more than a minute and she was simply outstanding.  Knowledgeable and with a lovely French accent that enhanced the atmosphere of the dinner.  There are two fixed prepared meals to choose from (one French, one American) or you can build your own meal ala carte.  For my wife, there was a specially prepared vegetarian menu.   Two of us went with the French menu, one went with the American menu and my wife of course went with the Vegetarian menu.  The sommelier chose an excellent white that we all shared during the meal.  The meal and service were simply divine, it was either 5 or 6 courses including the cheese course and we do not have the menus with us or I’d describe each course for you.  I DO remember that the first course was a soup that was fried inside a batter so it was literally a ball of soup that you ate in one bite.  Incredible.  Do NOT pass up the cheese course, we had Lidwine put together a sample plate of all of the cheeses and they were amazing.   I’ve read some reviews where people say the meal did not live up to the price.  I’m assuming most of these complaints are due to the portion sizes which are decidedly small for each course but that’s because you’re eating a lot of courses.  By the time meal was completed, all of us were more than satisfied with the meal and the wine.  I feel we received service and a meal that was on par with the price, especially for a special occasion.

The Meridian Bar located between Palo and Remy is a very very nice space to sit with a cocktail, both inside and out, and you can smoke cigars outside this bar.  There are some very expensive and high-end liquors up here and you can get an amazing cappuccino as well.

POOLS and AQUADUCK

All of the pools are ridiculously small for the size of the ship. The main family pools were quite narrow and had lots of wasted space with a large center staging area for lounge chairs that should be used for larger pool spaces. There is practically no way to watch the movies on the funnel vision from the shade, if you’re under shade, the screen is mostly or entirely blocked. We avoided the main pools for the entire trip. Also, note that there is basically zero airflow if you’re under cover alongside the main pools. Disney is missing the ability to open windows along the pool decks allowing airflow that we have found on other ships. It makes quite a difference.

The adult pool area has woefully few lounge chairs, it’s a very small space overall. We were able to get loungers by getting out to the space early each morning, which was fine by me since the Cove Café next to the adult pool has the best coffee on the ship. The adult pool is good for getting wet but you won’t be able to swim any laps. Satellite Falls up a couple of decks looks great on paper, but it’s not all that great in reality. Because it’s near the bow of the ship, the falls weren’t even operating for most of the cruise due to high winds. For the first two days sitting in the Satellite Falls was akin to sitting in a wind tunnel. 

Having recently sailed on both Celebrity and Royal Caribbean we were surprised at how small all of the pools were considering this is a family-friendly cruise line and the number of passengers the Fantasy can carry. I’m hopeful the new ships will address this area with a re-designed main pool area.

The AquaDuck ride is quite fun and refreshing. It’s deceptively faster for the first half of the ride and then slows down to more of a relaxing tube ride for the second half. We did the ride a bunch of times and our advice is to go after 6pm and especially at night when the tube lighting really comes to life. There are no lines at night and riding it just after sunset was awesome. 

DAYTIME ACTIVITIES

For adults, there’s live music and alcohol tasting. Those are the two big “scheduled activities” for adults. There are more “fun for all ages” types of events but those consist of crafts and sometimes sports activities. As a cruise line catered towards families, most all events during the day are targeted towards the kids. I think the idea here is that mom and dad can get away to the pool, the spa, the bar, whatever while the kids are entertained. And believe me, they were definitely entertained based on all the screaming the laughing we heard each time we passed the Oceaneer Club. 

I attended a Mixology class at the Skyline Lounge which was wonderful, although the 5 drinks in 40 minutes definitely had me feeling it by the end of the class. All of us attended a Champagne tasting in Ooh La La which was ok. But that’s pretty much the extent of the types of things that are adult-only activities during the day. If you’re looking for something scheduled to do during the day, there’s really not much of anything, especially if you don’t drink alcohol. 

There IS a fun interactive game called Mickey’s Detective Agency where you have to go around the ship getting clues via interactive artwork on the walls. The hardest one and the most fun one for us was the Muppet caper. You can play the Detective agency game anytime up till midnight most days and each case has multiple villains. So you could actually do the Muppet caper more than once and not get the same villain at the end. Pepe’s door was one of our favorite parts of the sleuthing because it’s an actual, mini-cabin door. 

Now there’s nothing that says you have to do anything during the day, and we passed our time most days reading and sometimes catching a movie. But I wanted to include this note here for those of you who are used to filling at least part of your days with activities. 

PORTS OF CALL AND EXCURSIONS

Being seasoned cruisers, we did not book anything through Disney for any of the ports of call. We actually rarely book through the cruise line unless it’s the only option for a particular excursion we’d like to do. 

Tortola in the British Virgin Islands was our first port of call and my wife booked an all-day sail and snorkel aboard the catamaran “Day Dream.” To get to the boat was a short walk from the ship to another pier. I honestly don’t snorkel but I have to say this was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable excursions we have ever done. Only about a dozen of us on the boat with never-ending drinks (rum punch, water, and soft drinks) and an excellent lunch. There were just over 3 hours of actual snorkel time at three different stops during which I simply floated and swam in the water while my wife had a ball snorkeling. If you love getting out in the water and love to snorkel, this is definitely an excursion to look at. Be sure to lather yourself in sunscreen, if you think you have enough on, put on more! I have a much longer, full review of the Day Dream at the end of this article for those who want to read more about the tour. 

St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands was our second port of call and it should be noted that Disney Fantasy docked at a secondary cruise port in St. Thomas. So if you are booking an excursion on your own, you need to make sure they know you are on the Disney Fantasy and where exactly you are supposed to meet your excursion. The original plan was to take a taxi to the beach however both my wife and I got pretty badly sunburned while out on the Day Dream despite lathering ourselves up pretty good. So we just spent the day on the ship. 

Castaway Cay, the Disney Private Island in the Bahamas was our final port of call. This is truly a “private island” with Disney being the sole inhabitant of the small island. Some cruise lines have more of a “private area” on a larger island. The bulk of the developed beach area is the family beach area with all sorts of activities, food, and some shops available as well. The adults-only beach, Serenity Bay, is at the far end of the developed area. You can walk to it, but it is a bit of a hike and in the heat and humidity we had that morning, it was better to take the two trams to get out there. Castaway Cay overall was just “ok” for us.

As I mentioned we took two trams to get out to Serenity Bay and that wasn’t too bad. The beach itself was beautiful and it was obvious that Disney has carved and shaped the beach to make the beach chairs sit perfectly and create aisles. The water was very shallow for a long ways and there is even a sand bar about 100 yards offshore where many people were standing and hanging out. 

It was the layout of the beach and the services/food that really didn’t work for us. All of that was at the far left end of the beach where the tram dropped us off. So after a long walk out to finally secure a beach chair and location under an umbrella (there’s is very VERY little shade available at Serenity Beach, you must get an umbrella) we were far enough away from the services that we never went back over there. There was only the occasional server passing by to order drinks and we ended up never ordering anything. 

Food was served back at that main drop-off area on the far left of the beach and as I mentioned in the Dining section of this review, my wife is a vegetarian. The food was served as part of a cookout and she simply cannot stand the smell of grilled meat. Because all of the food areas were covered, that grilled meat smell was overpowering for her so we opted to leave the beach early and head back towards the ship for lunch. 

We took the first tram back to the family beach area and decided to walk around the shops and food vendors there. I tried to get a frozen drink at the Summertime Freeze shop but after 10 minutes of the two waiters ignoring me and helping others who came up after us, we just left. There really weren’t any other vegetarian options that were appealing to my wife so we continued back to the ship.

Serenity Bay would have been a better design if the services were located in the MIDDLE of of the beach making them more easily accessible and centrally located. As this is Disney’s own private island there really isn’t any reason why it wasn’t designed this way. For a private island / private location we much prefer the Royal Caribbean Labadee location which is much easier to walk around and offers plenty of shade via palm trees and such. Grand Turk is also another excellent beach location with plenty of palm tree shade available. Castaway Cay was a beautiful island, but just an ok experience for us. 

SHOWS, MOVIES, NIGHTTIME ENTERTAINMENT AND CLUBS

A tip for first time Disney Cruisers, when you see 1820 Club on the Personal Navigator, those are events for 18-20 year olds as they are not quite old enough to partake of the adult events.

The main shows in the Walt Disney Theater are where a lot of that “Disney Magic” shines as the shows we saw were definitely enjoyable. If you are a fan of Disney music then you’ll love these shows. The staging of all the shows featured great use of smoke and pyro effects along with good use of video and media special effects. It did not appear that there was a live band, I believe all of the music was pre-recorded.

Aladdin is a shortened version of the Broadway musical that featured a fabulous Genie who was given a ton of latitude to ad-lib and riff on current events and pop culture. It was easily the best show of the week. Wishes was a tale of three friends about to graduate high school and while the storyline and dialogue were not the best, the music is always fun to sing along to and the show turned out to be better than we expected. Believe was all about remembering to keep that kid inside all of us alive and was helped greatly by having Genie reappear as a co-star in the show. Again if you love Disney music, you’ll enjoy all three of these shows.

The Buena Vista Theater is an AWESOME movie theater at sea featuring full 7.1 Dolby Surround that seriously shook the house during the movies. Movies generally started at 10:30 am and the last movie started at 10:30 pm. This features current Disney / Pixar / Marvel films along with recent and classic films. The 3D was pretty although the Dolby glasses were definitely worse for wear. I saw two 3D films and in both cases, I essentially had one strip across the glasses where the 3D worked, the rest of the glasses were a bit foggy. 

The DOWNSIDE to the theater is that the seats rock back too far. I have no idea why they lean so far back when you sit down, but I saw four films there and after the first film, I watched all the rest of them from the seats down on the floor level. When sitting down there, the way the seats lean back work, but for me sitting anywhere else, I was leaning too far back. Also they NEVER close the doors to the theater. So all during the movie, especially during the day, you’ll see shadows of people walking by the theater on either side of the screen. I really don’t know why they don’t close the doors. But overall, the theater is awesome. 

Movies are also shown on the Funnel Vision above the Main Pools, however, during our cruise, the screen was simply terrible. Either the contrast was super crushed or the screen is simply not very bright because anything that was somewhat to mostly dark, was simply a black blob on the screen. It was a real shame during “Brave” because that film was basically unwatchable on the Funnel Vision. It was just a black screen for most of the film so we gave up. We’ve watched outdoor movies on Princess in the past and their screens are honestly better. 

D Lounge is a pretty large theater area that features “family-friendly” evening entertainment which appeared to alternate between a dance party and family karaoke. We never went to any of these events and rarely saw more than a few dozen people inside the D Lounge when we would pass by in the evenings. It was kind of a wasted space in the evenings.

The Lobby Atrium on Deck 3 usually featured a duo or trio and they were all quite good actually. We didn’t really sit to listen to them much because most to the atrium is being used by the ship’s photographers to take portraits, but they are quite good. If you sat at the bar located on Deck 3 that’s a good place to sit and still hear the music. 

Europa is the bar/nightclub district in the back of the ship for adults that looked incredible when we did the research on the cruise but didn’t come close to delivering for us. Basically, Disney squeezed 4 bars and a 5th bar/nightclub into a space that could have held two really nice clubs in the same space. The Tube is themed on the London Underground and is where all the evening adult-only shows are held. It’s pretty small and if you don’t get to a show really early to claim one of the seats down in front, you’re probably not going to be able to see the show. We were early for the Love and Marriage game the first evening but when we returned for a show another evening, we got a seat on the side and then were promptly blocked by others who pulled chairs out into the aisles. The sightlines from the areas all around the bar are lousy for seeing the stage and the video screens are so poor they can’t be seen from the back.

La Piazza is the carousel themed bar that is really just a pass-through to get to the other bars. It’s kind of weird because we literally never stopped in there, it’s just a conduit to get to the other bars in Europa. Ooh La La is a French themed bar where the one interesting thing is that you can drink ANY of their champagnes by the glass, usually you must buy the entire bottle if you want to drink champagne. So if you’ve always wanted to try some super expensive champagne, this is the place to try it. O’Gills is the Irish Pub/sports bar that we never visited, but they do seem to feature trivia contests along with being the place to watch sports and they also host beer tasting. Skyline Lounge is gorgeous and we had some really good drinks here along with enjoying the changing scenery every 13 minutes as the skyline changes to various areas around the globe. Being a digital visual artist I was amused when I figured out that much of what is going on in those scenes are digitally generated. They might even be still images with 3D overlays. In particular, in the London scene, you’ll see the same guy walking the same path over and over, in fact, he even follows himself.

The Tube was the biggest disappointment because that was really the only place to see an “adult-only” show each evening. I would love to see Disney re-model Europa using the layout of Remy, Palo and Meridian as a guide. Enlarge and re-design The Tube as a straight nightclub with a larger bar and larger dance floor. This could also host live musical acts and adult-only karaoke as well. Put the Skyline Lounge in the middle just as Meridian is between Palo and Remy. Create a true adults only theater on the other side, maybe with the La Piazza theme that’s set up with good sightlines from front to back. The champagnes and the concept of being able to order a single glass from any bottle could move up to the Meridian, which would go along with the high-end cocktails and liquor they already have. As for the O’Gills Irish Pub / Sports Bar, perhaps that could be relocated elsewhere in the ship. Disney could also utilize the D Lounge as an adults-only space after 10:30 pm giving access to a large theater for evening entertainment. 

So as adults, looking for “adult-only” entertainment in the evening generally means going to a movie, or relaxing at a bar. This is one area where Disney is definitely lacking, would have been nice to see more shows and evening events aimed at adults. 

SPECIAL EVENTS, PARTIES AND FIREWORKS.

All of the other cruise lines we have sailed hold their major parties and large events up on the pool decks because there’s a lot of room up there and you get airflow because the ship is moving. However, Disney used the Lobby Atrium for most of their large events which created major logjams and very VERY hot experiences. I’m not sure why Disney underutilized their pool area especially since they have the stages and plenty of room to hold these parties. 

Our September sailing was a Halloween at Sea event cruise and guests were encouraged to bring costumes. On “Halloween Night” it was actually fun seeing so many great costumes all around the ship, including at the dining service. The work some of the guests put into making many of the costumes was amazing. The main Halloween event with the characters was held in the Atrium Lobby and as it was VERY hot out there. So many bodies in that small of space created a lot of heat. In addition to the quick show with the characters, there were also multiple trick or treat stations set up around the lobby. This event should have been outside where not only was there more room for everyone, but again, we would have some airflow. My cabin neighbor also asked why they didn’t spread the trick or treat stations around the ship kind of like a scavenger hunt along the lines of those mystery games featured throughout the ship. That would have been a great idea as well. There was also an Adults Only Halloween Event later that evening in The Tube but we didn’t attend because of our earlier experiences at The Tube. 

After experiencing the heat from the Halloween at Sea, we didn’t attend any other events in the Lobby Atrium unless we were on one of the upper decks so we could get away easily if it got too hot. Most evenings it was just the photographers posing people and kids dancing to the live music. 

On Pirate Night you can again attend dinner in your pirate garb if you’ve brought some and there was an interesting blend of “fun pirate” and “sexy pirate” throughout the ship. Some people really go all out and get into the whole pirate thing. I brought a pirate hat upon which I perched a parrot. This time, the shows ARE held outside on the pool deck and these are much more enjoyable. There are two pirate shows, the first one is the more kiddie centric with Mickey Mouse and the gang and if you’ve ever seen one of those shows in front of the Castle in Disney World or Disneyland, then you pretty much know what the show is like. There are NO fireworks for the early show so if you are only interested in those, you can skip the early show. The second show is more “Pirates of the Caribbean” / Jack Sparrow themed and while they make it appear as if it’s going to a more “spooky, serious” show, it comes off more like a Benny Hill / Keystone Cops show. We honestly didn’t see the show itself as we stationed ourselves on the upper deck above the pool so we would have a direct view of the fireworks. And for some reason the speakers on the upper level were not on so we couldn’t hear the sound from the show so I honestly could not tell you what the storyline was. All I can tell you is that the fireworks were part of some sort of a celebration for Jack. On our cruise the fireworks were shot out over the starboard side of the ship and they were quite impressive, considering we were on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. It was just under a 5 minute fireworks show.

Disney would do good to make better utilization of the pool space at night for big events and simply stop the Funnel Vision movies at 8pm.

DISEMBARKATION, LEAVING THE PORT

Leaving the ship is always a bit of a cluster with most everyone just ready to get off the ship. I have to say this was the least “cluster” of any ship we’ve left. Disney does try to manage the flow of people by encouraging all guests to attend breakfast in the final restaurant of your rotation and they even have two breakfast seatings. We had the 8:00 am seating and it was great to be able to see Marlan, Eddy, and Howard one last time before leaving the ship. 

After breakfast, we headed up to the Lobby Atrium, and while it was crowded and a mass of people getting off the ship, it wasn’t all that bad and we were off the ship in probably less than 10 minutes. 

In the luggage area, we grabbed a porter and he not only handled the luggage for all four of us, guiding us through customs, but he even took the bags all the way to our car in the parking garage. No need to bring the car around to pick up the luggage and my guests. He then gave me excellent instructions to pick up the highway for our trip back up to Orlando. So very easy disembarkation and drive out of the port. 

FINAL THOUGHTS ON “THE DISNEY WAY”

So overall we had a good time on the ship, we just felt as two adults traveling alone with no kids there was just a sense of lacking and not so much in the way of flexibility. Our cabin neighbor hit it on the head during the final night. He was traveling with his two young kids and he decried the lack of flexibility to do what you want, when you want to do it, especially the lack of an evening buffet. I can definitely see where he was coming from because if you want to ensure you’re going to do something on board, you really want to make sure you pre-book it because there really aren’t many other options aboard the ship. Whereas with other ships we’ve sailed, there are so many things to do that oftentimes nothing completely sells out or if it does, there are so many other things to choose from it doesn’t matter. We’ve become used to the “freestyle” way that so many other cruise lines now follow that there was a sense of rigidity to “the Disney Way.” It’s not necessarily a bad thing, just something that was clearly evident over the course of the week.

She’s a beautiful ship, food was good and the service was top notch. We would put the cruise line on par with Celebrity. But for our money and our choice of sailing, there are other cruise lines out there that better serve what we’re looking for. I hope this review has been helpful and as I tell my friends, “If you had a bad time on a cruise, you worked really hard at it.” 

A version of this review first appeared in Cruise Critic.

TORTOLA, BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS – DAY DREAM SNORKEL AND SAIL EXCURSION Kuralu Charters has two catamarans now and we sailed on the Day Dream.

We found the Day Dream day cruise through reviews on Trip Advisor and we’re thankful we did. Our sail started at 9 am and ended at 4 pm giving us plenty of time to return to the ship. Now I’ll start right off by saying I don’t snorkel, but my wife loves it. I completely enjoyed just floating in the Caribbean and riding in this beautiful catamaran.

Our day of sailing included three snorkeling stops and a full lunch, which included vegetarian options. That is one of the reasons why my wife chose this vessel and tour. The other reason she chose the Day Dream was because of their abundant shade from the Caribbean sun. Yes, there is plenty of room to lay out and enjoy the sun but if you prefer to sit in the shade, there is plenty of it here for you.

Our captain, Dee, and first mate, Katie were awesome for the entire trip. Always making sure we were plenty hydrated with a variety of soft drinks, beer, water, and rum punch. Our first stop took just over an hour to get to and during that time we got a bit of a history lesson on the islands, the pirates who plundered these waters, and some great background on “Treasure Island” and the dead man’s chest. Very informative and fun.

The first stop was at Norman’s Island which is the real-life “Treasure Island” on which the book was based. A couple of turtles greeted us as the boat was being secured in a bay area. We were given around an hour to enjoy this spot and my wife and her friend immediately really enjoyed the snorkeling in this area. I put on a pair of flippers, grabbed a noodle, and proceeded to swim around the area while submerging my GoPro camera. The water was just amazing. As we came back on board the boat, they had some honeydew melon waiting for us to get the saltwater taste out of our mouths. Great touch.

Our next stop was in the same general area, but in a secluded bay between two islands. We again spent a little over an hour here and while the snorkeling wasn’t as good here, the water was crystal clear and enjoyable. Again, I just floated and swam on the surface with the GoPro underwater where I got some great video of a young barracuda. This is also where we had a nice lunch of a frittata, Italian cold cuts, a selection of cheeses, salad, bread and again, all the drinks we could handle. It was quite refreshing.

From here we headed to a rock formation known as “The Indians.” It’s part of a national park that includes underground caves that connect to the nearby island. This was by far the best snorkeling according to my wife. She said the fish were coming right up to her, swimming around her and she was having so much fun, she had to be summoned to the boat at the end of our 50 minutes. Now if you don’t plan to snorkel but just float and/or swim on the surface at this stop as I did, I highly recommend using fins because the current is stronger here than any of the other stops. You won’t get taken right out to sea, but you might have a harder time getting back to the boat without fins.

Then it was time to head back to shore where they delivered us to the dock promptly at 4 pm. The Day Dream is a beautiful sailing vessel that gave us a nice smooth ride going to and from the snorkeling locations. I enjoyed sitting out on the trampolines out front and getting the breeze from the ocean. There are two stools on either side of the bow which are fantastic spots to sit and take photographs.

I would highly recommend the Day Dream for a great day exploring some of the islands around Tortola..

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Disney Fantasy 7 day eastern Caribbean cruise review

By: Author Morgan

Posted on Published: August 31, 2023  - Last updated: October 6, 2023

Are you considering going on a Disney cruise? Here is our complete Disney Fantasy 7 day eastern Caribbean cruise review!

My family of four recently got back from a seven day cruise on the Disney fantasy cruise ship.

We are not what you would call a Disney family – we have never been to Disney World, and really have no intention of going anytime soon – and we aren’t big cruisers either as my husband and I have each taken a couple of cruises total and they were more than a decade ago each.

So, it was kind of out of character for us to plan a Disney cruise. But, our kids are three and four now, and have never been on a true vacation before.

We decided that this was going to be the summer that we went somewhere cool with them.

After throwing around a lot of different ideas – and actually booking and then canceling a trip to Yellowstone – we settled on a Disney cruise as being the most child-friendly possible option for this age.

I’m going to take a lot of time to go into very deep detail about this cruise, and I will write a lot of other articles that will dive into very specifics about the ship and our experience, but spoiler alert – we had a great time.

This cruise was, at times, stressful and frustrating, but still pretty much the best experience we could’ve possibly had considering the age of our kids, their general demeanors, and the fact that we don’t have grandparents or cousins that can travel with us and help.

But, let’s dive into all of the details of what made our Disney cruise great, some of the pitfalls, and what I would want to know if I was booking a similar cruise for my family!

Is a Disney Cruise worth it?

Before I start breaking it down, I wanted to dive into the number one question I’ve gotten from friends and family since getting back from this cruise five days ago – is a Disney cruise worth the price?

Because, I would be lying if I didn’t tell you that Disney cruises can be more than double the cost of comparable cruises from other cruise lines.

Here’s the thing – I struggle telling people if certain things are worth it, because that is such a personal decision.

Would I go into debt to go on a Disney cruise? Absolutely not.

But, as someone who was able to comfortably pay for a Disney cruise, I definitely think that it is worth it to pay the extra compared to the other cruise lines.

I’m a little bit bougie, I like nice things, I’m willing to pay a little bit more for something clean, with a very friendly staff, that feels very safe and child friendly. That’s a Disney cruise.

To be fair, before we had kids, Sean and I could’ve gone to Europe and done something really nice with the amount of money we spent on the seven day cruise. Honestly, I think we spent more on this cruise than we spent on our two week Italian honeymoon in 2015.

But, everything is taken care of for you and we did have a lovely experience.

One of the really nice things about doing a cruise with little kids is you don’t have to worry about wasting money when you’re there.

And by that I mean maybe you wouldn’t normally take your kids to see a movie because you’re afraid that they would scream and cry, and wanna leave halfway through. On the cruise, who cares, it was included.

Maybe you wouldn’t normally order the scallops and the steak just to take a few bites and try them both. On the cruise, who cares, it was included.

Maybe you wouldn’t normally give each person in your family their own ice cream cone, you would normally share a cup or two. Everybody get one, they’re free.

I certainly would have never bought tickets for my kids to see a Broadway style show. But it’s low risk when they’re free, and, what do you know, turns out my kids love musicals and we went 5 times.

Soda is included and free. We don’t really drink soda, but I drank a few cokes on the trip just because they were there.

My point is that the all inclusive experience really is nice and feels very low risk and relaxing. And isn’t that the whole point of your vacation?

Here is everything I can think of sharing regarding our experience on the Disney Fantasy Eastern Caribbean cruise.

Booking and Planning

When doing initial research for this trip, I did a lot of googling and looking at the options for Disney cruises. We are in South Carolina and are lucky enough to be able to drive to Port Canaveral so we focused on cruises that left from that location.

There were three different Disney ships at the time that were leaving from Port Canaveral, but I didn’t really do any planning based on the ship.

Instead, I focused on the itineraries that we wanted. In this case, we wanted a seven day cruise.

I talked to a few people who thought that it was a bit aggressive to leap straight into a seven day cruise. It seems like a lot of people do a three or four night cruise as their first, especially with little kids.

But, for us, it’s over a 7 Hour drive to Port Canaveral, and Sean and I don’t work conventional jobs where we have to take vacation days or anything like that.

I found that it was about $1000 more total for a seven day cruise compared to a five day cruise, at least at the time we were booking it, and so to me it just seemed like a total no-brainer to focus on the seven day cruises.

So, the Fantasy was the only choice for seven day Caribbean cruises out of Port Canaveral with Disney cruise lines.

They alternate weekly between an eastern and western itinerary. We just ended up with the Eastern itineraries based off the week we were available.

It’s worth noting, and I’ll get into this later, that kids have to be 3 years old to go to the kids club and that is why we were so specific on the date that we could go on this cruise – we had about a two week window between Rory’s third birthday and the day they went back to school.

So, that was pretty much how we landed on the eastern Caribbean itinerary – it’s just what fit our schedule best.

Reservation process and tips for booking a Disney cruise

You have two options for booking a Disney cruise- you could book it yourself, or you can use a travel agent.

We booked our trip through an acquaintance of mine, who is a Disney travel agent. I reached out to her because I knew she did this and there was no cost for her services as she’s paid a fee from Disney directly.

I am implying no hate to her. She’s a very nice person, and I’m not speaking on all travel agents, because I literally only worked with this one person, but we got zero benefit from working with a Disney cruise travel agent.

She didn’t get us any discounts, we didn’t get any credits or gifts, she didn’t even really give us any tips or advice, all of my advice came from Reddit and Facebook.

So, don’t feel like you need to use a travel agent. You aren’t missing out on anything. If I were to book it again, I would just do it myself online like I do everything else.

When to book a Disney cruise

Based on my research, Disney cruises tend to sell out, especially during popular times like when kids are out of school.

They also limit each cruise on the number of kids in each age category that can be on board at a time.

They limit it so that if every single kid age 3 to 12 was at the kids club at once they would be below capacity. So it’s possible that a cruise you want to book will have open rooms but will not let you book a room if you have kids of a certain age.

All of that is to say, the earlier you can book your cruise, the more likely you are to get the room that you want for the best possible deal. It seems the prices only go up as you get closer to the cruise date.

Embarkation Day

Embarkation Day is the day that your cruise leaves the port. You will be assigned a time to get on the ship – this is based on your rank in the Disney system (first timer, silver, gold, platinum, etc for returning cruisers, or concierge for the high rollers).

Arrival at the port

Do not arrive before the time you are assigned. Maybe 15 minutes before to get situated, but they will not let you in the door before your time- they are strict on this.

We chose to drive from our hotel and park in the parking deck. At Port Canaveral it was $17 per day (including arrival and departure day) to park, working out to be just shy of $150 for the week.

Before parking, you can drop your suitcases (with a member of your group) at the curb and then drive to park.

We were shocked that there were hardly any cars in the deck – we got one of the first spots on the ground floor and there were tons of empty spots. You’ll see later that this made getting out when we got back very easy.

Once you have your suitcases ready, a porter will come to take your bags away. It was chaotic, and by the time I flagged a porter down, he straight up told me to my face that he does not work for Disney and he works for tips and held out his hand. I stood there for a moment and said “well I don’t have any cash” and he walked away.

When Sean came out of the garage, I told him, and he got out some cash. The guy took a bit and came back and took the cash and our bags. Do not leave your bags on the curb and walk away, instead be sure someone takes them away for you.

So, definitely bring cash and be prepared with a $20 for your bags. I get it, they will help whoever is paying the most. I just was not prepared for that, there was no option that I saw to do your own bag, and it kind of put a sour taste into my mouth right at the start of the trip.

Check-in process

After the porter graces you by taking your money and bag, your party will have to go wait in line to board the ship. This is, luckily, indoors and air conditioned.

Have your passports ready and be prepared to wait 30-60 minutes to get through the queue.

They took our passports, set up our room, and set up our MagicBands .

On the other side of that line, you will go through an x-ray machine and then ride the escalator up to the Mickey tunnel and the ship’s entrance.

You go through the Mickey tunnel, cross the bridge, and you are on the ship!

The cast members (that’s what they call employees) will announce your family and everyone claps for you as you enter the ship. It’s a nice touch and very indicative that Disney tries to make everyone feel special and celebrated.

First impressions of the ship

When you first enter the ship, you will be in the atrium, which is the lobby. The atrium is on the third floor and has two upper floors that look down on it. So, the atrium kind of includes the third, fourth and fifth floor of the Disney Fantasy cruise ship.

While the ship is large and beautiful, I do think that a lot of the fits and finishes are dated. The ship was built in 2012, so it’s not exactly old. Perhaps they were going for a “classic” look.

That being said, it is very very clean and well maintained. We had zero issues with messes or trash or broken anything on our trip.

Activities and events on embarkation day

On embarkation day, they suggest that everyone go up to the 11th floor to Cabanas, which is the buffet on the pool deck, and get lunch. It was about 1:00 by the time we got on and got up to the buffet, so we were glad to eat.

Expect the food to be very crowded day one. It was hard to get a table, so we brought our food out to the pool deck which had some empty spots.

You can get into your room after 2pm on embarkation day. Your keys will be stuck to the outside of your door and your luggage will come to your door by dinner time. Don’t be surprised if they don’t all come at one time as ours came in a couple batches.

Accommodations

The Disney Fantasy cruise ship, like most other cruise ships, has interior rooms, ocean view rooms, and rooms with a veranda. There are also suites, but I will not dive into those haha.

Our room was a family deluxe verandah state room, which is the largest non-suite room. This was room 8116 on the Disney Fantasy.

Size-wise, the room was just right. It has a queen sized bed, a sofa that folds into a twin bed, an upper bunk above the sofa that pulls down from the ceiling, and a 4th bed that folds down murphy style.

We used the queen and bunk beds. It did not feel too tight with a family of 4, even with the beds down, though we were thankful that our steward put the bed away each morning.

Location-wise, this room was perfect. I loved being on the 8th floor – it felt central but quiet. Being mid-ship meant we had no issues with motion or rocking. It was a great room!

My only feedback was that we had a port view, and if you had a starboard view, you would be able to watch the fireworks from your balcony! But, we loved looking at the port on docked days.

The bathroom

The other thing that this room had was a split bathroom. So, basically two separate, back-to-back bathrooms. One is a sink + toilet and one is a sink + shower.

This would be great if you had a lot of people wanting to get ready at once.

We are in a weird spot where our kids still need help with the bathroom and bathing and have zero modesty issues, so it felt very tight and closed off, but I see how this set up would be great for most families.

The verandah

I think that the verandah was the most used part of our room. We ate room service out there, drank wine in the chairs, watched the ship enter and leave the ports, and even interacted with Pluto onshore at Castaway.

I recognize that the balcony was a higher cost but whoooweee we loved it. It’s also really good if you’re a parent that needs a space to get away after your kids go to sleep.

Dining Experience

The Disney Fantasy had good food. It was by no means the best food of my life, but it was all consistently good. Some was great. A few things were bland or boring, but nothing was bad.

I will say that the best part of the food to me, as a mom home with 2 kids 24/7, is that I did not wash a dish or prepare a single thing for a week.

Even on vacation I am usually washing up a bit or cooking some meals. Nothing on this cruise! That, my friends, was priceless.

Main dining rooms and rotational dining

Disney serves their dinners in a rotational dining format. On the Fantasy, there are three restaurants that you rotate in between.

You will have to go into the Disney cruise navigator app to see the restaurant you are assigned to each night and your table number.

Your table number stays the same at every restaurant all week, as does your server and assistant server. The people at the tables around you stay the same too.

I thought this was really fun because you got to try different restaurants which each had a different style of food, and even when you went back to restaurant, it had a new menu each time.

On the seven day cruise, you get to try each of the three restaurants twice. The restaurant you go to the first night you will also go to on the middle night, which is pirate night, which has a pirate themed menu, so you will still get two menus at each restaurant excluding the pirate menu, to add up to seven total.

Learn more about each of the three rotational dining restaurants:

• Animator’s Palate review
• Enchanted Garden review
• Royal Court review

There’s also a buffet, which is called Cabanas, on the 11th floor near the pool deck.

We ate breakfast at Cabanas each day we didn’t have room service and had lunch there as well.

The food was pretty good for buffet, and there was a really wide selection of items.

My biggest complaint with a buffet is that I actually find it harder than a sit down restaurant with small kids.

It’s a tossup, because my kids don’t want to sit and wait for their food, but, they also aren’t going to carry a plate through the buffet.

We ended up having one adult go and take the kids and find a table – which could be really hard to do a peak times – and sit down.

At the same time, the other adult went and got food for the kids and then we had to alternate getting food for ourselves.

So the buffet was honestly kind of a lot of work, and there weren’t even servers bringing you drinks or anything.

They bused your table, so it’s not like you have to take your trash away at the end, but it was kind of an ordeal.

Poolside food

Additionally, there’s one more spot to get lunch or dinner, which is Flo’s Café, which had a “Cars” movie theme.

They had pizza, burgers, barbecue sandwiches, Panini’s, french fries, hotdogs, corn dogs, stuff like that. This was available for lunch and dinner.

We could eat at the pool deck or you could get it and take it into Cabanas and eat it there.

A lot of the food at Flo’s was actually at Cabanas too – my big feedback was that this spot usually had really short lines and I thought the pizza and burgers were pretty good so it was actually easier for us to grab lunch here with the small kids compared to dealing with a larger buffet at cabanas.

Room Service

Your final option for food is to order room service. Room service is free and included with your cruise, unless you order booze or some thing else premium.

However, we did tip a few dollars when we ordered room service.

Room service was clutch for early morning breakfasts when we had port activities starting at 7 or 8 AM.

I literally don’t know how we could’ve gotten the kids up, dressed, put on sunscreen, up to the buffet, fed, and downstairs by 7 AM. This way, we had food delivered between 6-6:30, ate it on the balcony, got dressed, and left.

Hot tip – you can get uncrustables pb&js delivered from room service with breakfast. We got 2 of these on each port day for the kids to snack on. It was CLUTCH when we didn’t make it back until 2pm or so.

Kid-friendly meal options

Everywhere on the ship is expecting kids. So, they have extensive kids menus and no one was upset by my kids poor behavior.

To be fair, my kids were not screaming or throwing food or anything but they also didn’t like sitting in their seats for a two hour dinner.

The kids menus contained things like:

• macaroni and cheese
• chicken strips
• pasta + red sauce
• mini burgers
• grilled cheese

The waitstaff also offered to bring the above kids items when they weren’t on the menu. They dig them up like magic from somewhere on the ship!

Also, kids can order adult food. The kids at the table next to us were elementary aged and ordered salads, steaks, and seafood off the full menu each night. The waiter actually cut the kids’ steak for him. I was very impressed by them!

I will also say that LOTS of little kids at dinner had tablets. We did not bring ours and, retrospectively, it might have helped with dinner time.

It’s not something we’ve ever done – screens at the table – and I’d prefer not too, but those kids seemed to do better than my screenless 3&4 year olds so who am I to judge.

Special dietary considerations

The menus at all of the restaurants had things clearly labeled that were vegetarian, gluten free, and dairy free.

The waitstaff also made a big effort to get to know our needs and preferences. For example, I don’t eat much meat, and at first he kept pushing the steak and ribs and all these meaty things and acting perplexed when I chose tofu.

Once I explained my preference to him, he shifted his recommendations and never suggested the meat to me again. Basic, but he did a good job of it!

Onboard Entertainment

The onboard entertainment was really great on our fantasy cruise.

Broadway-style shows and performances

The musical performances on the Disney Fantasy were possibly the highlight for me. I feel like we got so much value getting to see these shows, and I was truly blown away at how much my kids not only enjoyed, but appreciated them.

Each of the three shows was shown as a matinee at 12:45, then at 6:30 and at 8:30. You go to the show that is the opposite of your dinner so if you have early dinner, you go to a late show and if you have a late dinner you go to an early show.

We went to the matinee and the late show for each show. The matinee was a great way to guarantee my kids were awake for it, and each time they enjoyed it so much they begged to go back again later that night.

My kids have never seen a live show like this before in their entire lives, so it’s not like they are used to plays or Broadway. These shows were just really good.

The shows on our ship, in order of their appearance was:

• Believe – a compilation of classic Disney songs from different movies.

Aladdin was random to me, but I made sure my kids watched it leading up to the cruise so they were familiar. Y’all. It was SO GOOD. Shout out to the actor who played Aladdin (yes I looked him up!), he was so charismatic and fantastic.

Frozen was good – though we all agreed that Aladdin was stronger. (I was surprised, since my kids generally prefer Frozen, but the leads were just stronger in Aladdin).

The Believe show was cute, but once again, the song choices were all “classic” Disney movies – most my kids didn’t know. They got excited for Tiana, but they don’t know Jungle Book, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, or many other 90s movies.

Movie Theater

One thing I don’t see mentioned enough about the Disney cruise that I want to shout out is the movie theater. They have a movie theater on board that shows Disney movies that are currently in theaters in the United States.

We were able to see Elemental. I really really wanted to see The Little Mermaid live action but the times just didn’t work with our kids schedule.

They were also showing Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan and Wendy, and some Indiana Jones something.

I was surprised that they seem to show the adult movies a lot more, and didn’t show the kids movies as much or as many times during the day.

But, if you go on a Disney cruise, definitely try and use it as a chance to catch any movie!

Deck parties and events

The ship held deck parties for sail away, which is when you leave the port on day one, pirate night when they had a little pirate show, and on the 25th anniversary they did a little Mickey show before the fireworks.

Personally, I found the deck parties lame.

They were very very crowded and I’m not one to watch Mickey Mouse dance around.

Some kids were into it, most seemed either hot and tired, or sleepy and tired, depending on the time of day.

There were some Disney adults that were really into it. I’m not gonna yuck their yum, but the deck parties just didn’t do it for me.

Family entertainment options

On the nights when there were not musical performances, there were other performers. There was a ventriloquist, a magician, and a juggler.

The only one of these that we made it to was the juggler. I’m not one to hate on artists, but I was super unimpressed with his act. My kids thought it was cool though, so I guess they were the target audience.

We did not make it to the other shows because they were at 8:30 at night and on those nights, my kids were just beat.

Port of Calls

The Eastern Caribbean itinerary included:

• Day 1: Port Canaveral
• Day 2: Sea Day
• Day 3: Sea Day
• Day 4: Tortola, British Virgin Islands
• Day 5: St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands
• Day 6: Sea Day
• Day 7: Castaway Cay private island
• Day 8: Port Canaveral

We loved this itinerary. Starting with Sea Days was a great way to get to know the ship.

The Virgin Islands were gorgeous with white sand and clear water.

Castaway Cay is great because everything is taken care of for you and mostly included in the cruise.

As far as the length of the cruise, we felt that 7 days was just right. I never got bored but I also did not feel rushed whatsoever.

Pool and Recreation

There are a variety of pools + water areas on the Fantasy.

The family pools

I was pretty unimpressed by the pools on the Disney Fantasy ship. There are 2 main family pools – a 3 foot deep pool and a 5 foot deep pool.

They were constantly so full with people it was like human soup, super unappealing and crowded.

We actually found a small fountain area on the side of the ship that I never found the name of – it’s next to the soda fountains – that was a huge hit with my 3 year old.

It’s worth noting that swim diapers are NOT allowed in any pools, so if your kid is not potty trained, they cannot swim at all.

There is also the Funnel Puddle in the “family area” right above the adults only pool. The fountain was never on, but my 3 year old LOVED this pool. We were always the only ones there.

It was only 6 inches deep but it was private and we ordered daiquiris and enjoyed the spot.

I felt a little awkward – it was right over the adults only section- but it was clearly marked as family pool, and I asked like 4 people and it was family friendly. It’s a hidden gem!

Adult-only areas

There are 2 adult only pools on the ship. In the very front of the ship there’s basically a 1 foot deep fountain with a seat you can sit on. We walked by here but never got in.

There is also an adults only pool with a swim up bar and 5’5″ deep section. It was nice – we went during one kids club visit – but it was very small and crowded.

Also there was a hot tub in the adults only area, but I never made it in.

Splash areas

There are 2 splash areas on the ship – Nemo’s Reef and the Aqua Lab.

My daughter LOVED Nemo’s Reef. It has all of the different Nemo fish that squirt and spray water. And, you can slide down Mr. Ray.

This was a huge hit and is what the Disney cruise should have more of – cute fun character inspired areas.

Aqua Lab is a spot where you can turn knobs and crank levers and squirt each other with water. It was fun, but it was frequently closed for too much wind.

AquaDuck water slide

The big water slide on the ship was called the AquaDuck. You have to be 42 inches to ride the AquaDuck with an adult.

My four year old was able to do it with my husband and they did it twice on the trip.

The trick is to go at low wait times, because during busy sea days, the wait can be long. They went early in the morning or later at night, because my four-year-old is not about the line.

This is the slide that goes all the way around the ship and they really really enjoyed it.

Mickey’s water slide

There is a smaller yellow waterslide that is kids only and called Mickey’s Slide.

You have to be 38 inches to ride it and have to be shorter than 5 foot five – we talked to a 12-year-old who got turned away because she was too tall.

This was a good slide and my four year-old did it twice by himself. I think he would’ve done it more if you’d had a friend with him, or if his sister had been tall enough to do it with him.

Sports and recreation options

This ship also has Goofy Golf, which is putt putt on the top deck. It was a lot of fun, we did this a few times, and my 4 year old really loved it.

There is also a basketball court, which seemed impossible to do because it was so windy.

Finally, there is a sports simulator up there on the sports deck. It’s indoors and you kick or throw actual sports balls at a screen.

You have to pay for this but it’s only like $15 for an hour, the bigger problem is getting a reservation. When we were able to sign up as first time cruisers, nothing was available.

Childcare and Kids’ Activities

The kids clubs on the Disney cruise are divided up as follows:

• 0-3 (or not potty trained) Nursery
• 3-12 Kids Club – Oceaneer’s Club & Lab
• 11-14 Edge (middle school age)
• 14-17 Vibe (high school age)
• 1820 club – for college aged >18 but too young for booze

If we are being completely honest, I was unimpressed by the kids club on this cruise. They have open houses several times throughout the cruise when adults can come and tour and check it out.

I felt that the Oceaneer’s club and lab were very screen-oriented. There were computer games, movies, and just a lot of giant TV screens on the walls. There is no playground and not a lot of toys.

They do have activities organized throughout the week, we took our kids to the kids club twice.

The first time they stayed for less than an hour and seemed to have a good time.

The second time, they stayed for one hour and when we picked them up our four-year-old son was sobbing, snot pouring down his nose, which is incredibly unlike him.

I tried to pick him up, and the woman yelled at me that I can’t touch him until he was signed out and then proceeded to sign out two other non-crying kids before signing him out while he stood there and just sobbed.

It then took them over five minutes to find my three-year-old and when they brought her out, she was crying too.

None of the employees seemed too concerned, no one, including my kids or the employees could tell me what happened, and my kids adamantly refused to go back to the kids club after that.

I heard lots of people saying that their kids didn’t want to leave the kids club. They loved it so much they even wanted to go to the kids club on the private island days and during dinner. This was not what happened for us.

Character Interactions

One of the big selling points for many people on the Disney cruise is the character interactions and the ability to get photos with characters.

I pre-paid for the photo package, so about halfway through the cruise, I decided to start waiting in these long lines to get photos with characters.

It’s worth noting that you can take pictures with the characters on your own cell phone. No problem for free.

Also, some of the best interactions that we had with characters was when we just passed them in the hallway, not waiting in a line. Shout out to Rapunzel. She was the best for this.

But, if you want to wait in line for a character that you really want to see, be prepared to line up. For example, on the second to last day, we still had not seen Stitch and my kids really love Stitch, so I waited in line 15 minutes before he was due to appear and ended up waiting for an hour total to see him.

The best strategy is definitely for one adult to grab a drink and get in line with their cell phone, and then text the rest of the group when you are close to the front of the line. This was totally cool. As long as you were doing just one group one photo you’re not really cutting the line you’ve got one spot it’s not like a ride.

Only other feedback on character meet and greets is that I think that Disney needs to take a long hard look at the characters that they feature on the ship.

It really felt to me like they were catering towards Disney adults with some of these choices.

For example, Chip and Dale were out every day. Are Chip and Dale even relevant anymore? I think not.

I would like to see Elsa and Anna, Moana, Buzz Lightyear, and more recent characters.

Here’s who we physically saw on our cruise so you can prepare your kids, so they know who these people are because my kids did not know most of these:

Classic Disney characters

• Donald duck
• Chip + Dale

All of these classic Disney characters also come out at different times wearing different outfits, such as pirate costumes or sailing clothes, so you can see them multiple times in different garb.

Other Disney Characters

• Captain Hook + Smee (pirate night only)
• Captain Jack Sparrow (pirate night only)

Cruise Staff and Service

The highlight of this cruise for me was really the Disney cruise staff, and the level of service that we were given. Everyone seemed just so genuinely happy and friendly.

Either they’re the Fakest Fakers in the world or they like what they do. Maybe it’s a mix of the two.

I will say this is a sharp contrast to customer service that we have gotten anywhere else lately and was a big relief.

I feel like this is one of the biggest things you are paying for when you pay premium for a Disney cruise – really really good service, very clean facilities, and just a very child friendly atmosphere.

Themed Experiences

There were a few themed activities on our 7 day Disney cruise.

Our cruise had two special nights – the 25th anniversary night, and pirate night.

25th anniversary night

The 25th anniversary night was because 2023 is the 25th anniversary of Disney cruise line.

They had free cocktails in the atrium before each dinner service, which was the only time we found them doing this on the whole cruise. The cocktails were kind of sickly sweet for me, so retrospectively I wish I had grabbed glasses of champagne instead of the neon blue cocktail. Regardless, it was a nice touch.

On the 25th anniversary night it was formal night, and they also did a fireworks show off the pool deck. It was nice, nothing too crazy, and it didn’t start until about 10:30 which was way too late for my kids.

Retrospectively, I wish we had a room that looked starboard so we could’ve just watch the fireworks from our balcony.

Pirate night

The other theme night was pirate night, which was about halfway through the cruise. Definitely some people went completely wild dressing up in full pirate garb.

All of the staff was talking like a pirate and really having fun with it which made it really silly.

I got this pirate gear set up for my kids and I also got inflatable pirate swords and pirate tattoos for the kids and our fish extender group, which were really fun.

My kids enjoyed getting pictures with Pirate Mickey and Minnie. These were limited costumes so the lines were very very long. Be prepared.

There was a pirate menu, which wasn’t really very stand out, and a pirate Mickey show on the pool deck after our early dinner.

They also did a Captain Jack Sparrow show around 10 p.m. followed by fireworks, but we skipped this one because the other fireworks had been such a late disaster for our kids.

Dress-up opportunities for kids

I packed two Disney costumes for each of my kids for this cruise and they did not wear them. Big waste of space. We did see a lot of little girls, wearing princess dresses, especially on the formal and semi formal nights and at the princess gathering.

I will say that lots of kids wore Frozen costumes to the Frozen show, so maybe look into what shows are on your ship and pack costumes if you have them.

Royal gathering

The princess gathering is a free event that you have to book in advance. It becomes available 30 days out from your cruise at midnight Eastern standard time. If you want to go, you need to be on your app at midnight for real. At 12:03 it was sold out.

You don’t know the times in advance, but it will be the first two days of your cruise.

This is a chance to see for princesses dedicated like a full 60 seconds with each one. You still have to wait in line, but it’s a lot shorter line.

You will see the same princesses for the rest of the cruise, this was a really easy way to see them and get autographs and start the crews out with a bang.

This is not to be confused with the paid premium tea party, which you were not going to get tickets to if you are a first time cruiser. It was sold out I think before even silver members could book excursions on our cruise.

Debarkation

After our experience getting on the ship, I expected debarkation to be a bit of a disaster. I was shocked at how well it went.

With a 5:45 dinner time, we were assigned a 7:10 AM breakfast in the restaurant where we had our final dinner the night before.

This was the only plated sit down breakfast that we went to and we had our regular waiters.

We had breakfast and were not able to go back to the room afterwards. Instead, we grabbed our carry-on bags, said goodbye and headed off the ship.

We were off the ship at 8 AM and our bags were there waiting for us sorted by the group number we were given good night before.

It was easy to grab our bags, and then we had to go through customs which was less than a 10 minute wait.

At this point, some people were hiring porters to carry their bags, and the porters literally came through customs with them. Considering the guy wanted 20 bucks to put our bags on the ship in the beginning I can’t imagine how much they were asking for for this 30 minute commitment.

Regardless, we rolled out of there with our rolly bags zero problems, straight into our car and were on the highway by 8:30 AM.

I definitely want to say that there is no problem checking our bags the night before, we were slightly worried that we might have to wait, but there was zero issue.

It was there waiting for us. The combination of checking our bags and parking in the garage made it just so super fast to get out and get going for our long drive.

Final Thoughts and Recommendations

I think that the ideal audience for a Disney cruise would be a family with two elementary aged girls, who love princesses, and are independent enough to feed themselves at dinner, stay up until 11 PM for a special occasion, and are excited to meet new friends and hang out with other kids they might not know very well.

I also think that a Disney cruise would be fabulous for people with younger teens, who similarly like to make friends, and would really enjoy the independence that you could give them in the safe environment of a Disney cruise.

Also, it seems like a hit for Disney adults with cash to burn or grandparents who want to treat all of their kids and grandkids to really special trip.

We had a great time, don’t get me wrong. We will probably go on another Disney cruise, I wouldn’t be surprised if we did another one next year.

But, I think it would’ve been a lot more fun for us if we had more adults with us. Either grandparents, or preferably friends with kids pretty close in age to ours.

I think having other kids would have given our kids more confidence in the kids club and it would’ve been fun to be able to switch off with some other adults so we could do things like go to the adults only restaurant or go out after bedtime once or twice.

In conclusion, the Disney cruise is probably the most expensive way to cruise, but they sure to take care of you- it’s clean, it’s nice, it’s perfect for kids!

Any more questions about the Disney Fantasy?

Thanks for reading!

Hey there, I’m Morgan, the creative mind behind CelebratingWithKids.com! As a parent of two lively little ones, I’ve made it my mission to turn ordinary days into extraordinary adventures, sharing playful activities, thoughtful toy reviews, and delightful printables to help families celebrate every moment together. 🎉👨‍👩‍👧‍👦🎈

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Disney Fantasy Cruise Review: Where Fantasy Meets Reality

Posted by Riley Loftus | Aug 28, 2023 | Cruises | 0 |

Get Ready for a Wild Ride Onboard the Disney Fantasy Cruise Ship

All cruise ships boast in copious entertainment options, dining venues, and recreation activities. Yet, some are more formal and sophisticated than others. So much so that dragging in water from the pool area is frowned upon and unwelcome. For some, these upscale cruise lines are their cup of tea. For others, namely families with young kids, they can be a challenge. It can be difficult to find a cruise line that not only allows children to their goofy, silly selves, but encourages it. For families wanting to set sail on a ship that welcomes both kids and adults to unleash their inner child, then the Disney Fantasy cruise ship may be worth considering.

Why the Disney Fantasy Cruise Ship?

Credit: Disney

Simply the name of “Disney” brings smiles to faces. By this point, Disney is a household name. The Walt Disney Company produces not only movies, television programs, music, games, merchandise resorts, and theme parks, but also cruise ships! Leading the world in entertainment and family-friendly fun, Disney cruise ships are no exception. In particular, the Disney Fantasy ship is an adventure of its own where keeping travelers engaged and entertained is a priority.

Onboard this ship, fantasy meets reality. Dream about what would make your cruise vacation most enjoyable and memorable. The things you come up with are most likely already on Disney Fantasy. Kids can splash around at Nemo's Reef, watch Disney musical performances, and swim in Goofy, Mickey, or Donald's pool. The ship also offers tea parties with Cinderella and a pirate-themed dinner, so bring your princess dresses and pirate costumes with you on your next family vacation aboard the Disney Fantasy.

Features & Benefits

The staterooms available onboard the Disney Fantasy include inside staterooms, overview rooms, rooms with an additional verandah, and concierge suites. Within each category, guests can choose from a couple room layouts. For instance, the inside staterooms come in either the standard or deluxe option (note: the way Disney defines “standard” is much more spacious than how other cruise lines define “standard”). The oceanview staterooms come in the same standard or deluxe options. The only difference is, of course, the views.

Do you want a room with its own private balcony? Disney Fantasy offers staterooms with a verandah too. These additional sanctuaries (also known as private balconies) attached to your room will provide the fresh air and colorful sunrise views. All balconies come equipped with private furniture, so guests can sit down and stay awhile. In the morning, bring your cup of coffee, your morning breath, and your sleepy self onto your verandah to catch a wonderful sunset. It is conveniently outside your room.The most luxurious and spacious accommodations onboard the Disney Fantasy is the concierge suite options. All concierge rooms come with a verandah. Choose from the concierge 1-bedroom suite, the concierge royal suite, and the concierge family oceanview stateroom.

Dining options on the Disney Fantasy accommodate for the picky-eaters and the out-of-the-box eaters. You already know Disney loves kids. That's why most of their restaurants are like giant kids menus – filled with all the favorites of your little ones. However, parents don't worry. There are adult-exclusive restaurants that serve more sophisticated meals. Couples desiring a kid-free dining experience can venture to Palo for Italian cuisine or Remy for French cuisine. In both restaurants, they will be served gourmet food within an intimate setting.

Dessert before dinner, anyone? Stop by Sweet on You for a decadent dessert, including ice cream, cookies, and cupcakes. Another spot to grab smooth soft-serve ice cream in Eye Scream Treat (can you guess which Monsters, Inc. character this eatery is named after?). When your fuel is running low and you need a more substantial, but quick food option, swing by Flo's Café. There are three food options within Flo's café, including Tow Mater's Grill, Luigi's Pizza, and Fillmore's Favorites. Burgers, pizza, sandwiches, and salads from Flo's Café make great grab-and-go meals.

Cabanas is a buffet-style indoor restaurant that gets transformed to a standard table-service dining experience. Animator's Palate offers scrumptious food with a show. At this restaurant, guests can eat dinner while watching Disney characters come to life before their eyes. For more elegant dining options, the Royal Court and the Enchanted Garden are both sit-down restaurants with fine silverware, chandeliers, and meals fit for kings and queens.

Beat the heat with a jump into Mickey's Pool, Donald's Pool, or Goofy's Pool. Splash around at Nemo's Reef. Grab a tube and whiz down the AquaDuck slide. When you aren't participating in the water activities, check out the activities offered on land (we mean, ship deck). Goofy's Sports Deck has a mini golf course, a basketball court, ping-pong tables, foosball tables, a running track, and a virtual sports simulator. If your kids love solving mysteries, then check out Midship Detective Agency. Midship Detective Agency is the place for investigators to put their examination skills to the test as they try to accomplish their given-mission.

Adults in need of quiet time can visit the private Quiet Cove Pool. The Quiet Cove Pool is a kids-free pool zone. Guests have to be 18 or over to enter this place of refuge. Adults can also enjoy the fitness center and spa. When your muscles are sore post-workout, treat yourself to an afternoon at the spa to soothe those tense muscles.

Entertainment

As far as entertainment, there are themed deck parties, live shows, meet and greets with Disney characters, and more. See Aladdin ride his magic carpet in the live musical performance of Disney's Aladdin. Catch a showing of Disney's Believe too. Different times of the year bring about different themes onboard the Disney Fantasy. For instance, come Halloween, the ship transforms into a spooky experience. New Year's Eye is another time of year when the Dinsey Fantasy goes all out. Every year, December 31 comes paired with music, dancing, and delicious food. After a special New Year's Eve dinner, join the deck party where there will be a lively celebration as passengers ring in the New Year. Of course, party hats and all the bells and whistles are a part of the New Year's festivities as well.

What People Are Saying About the Disney Fantasy

Most Travelers vacationing with their family appreciate the many activities for kids onboard the Disney Fantasy. There is no doubt that this cruise ship offers a great experience for kids. However, adult travelers vacationing without kids have stated that they do not recommend going on the Disney Fantasy in you are in their same situation – adults without kids.

Alternative Cruise Options

Disney dream cruise.

A cruise on the Disney Dream will, of course, feature many of the same activities, amenities, and entertainment options as the Disney Fantasy. The Disney Dream has its own distinct restaurants, activities, and live performances as well. If you love the sound of the Disney Fantasy, the Disney Dream may be worth considering because it provides the same family-focused and family-friendly vibes.

Allure of the Seas

The Allure of the Seas is a part of the Royal Caribbean Fleet. If you are finding that the Disney Cruise line has too many kid activities and not enough places for adults to enjoy, then Royal Caribbean provides the happy balance between the two. The Allure of the Seas is another family-friendly cruise ship. It is tailored to both adults and kids.

Regal Princess

The Regal Princess is similar to the Allure of the Seas, in that it was built with kids and adults in mind. There is a sports court, boutique shops, an art gallery, original musical productions, a casino, a club, music, dancing, and even movies under the stars.

Dreams Really Do Come True

This Disney Fantasy review only scratched the surface of the wonders and excitement found on this ship. To experience the fun for yourself is something else altogether. Jump into Goofy's pool, get autographs from your favorite Disney characters, eat Disney-inspired foods, dine in Disney-themed restaurants, and watch a live Disney musical performance. For families looking for an eventful and Disney-full vacation, we invite you to consider climbing aboard the Disney Fantasy. Whether you are a child or an adult, we highly recommend considering this cruise ship. If you love Disney, then this cruise ship was designed specifically for you.If you have set sail on the Disney Fantasy, then please share about your experience in the comments sections below!

Related Article: Oceania Marina Review: Cruise Around the World in Luxury!

About The Author

Riley Loftus

Riley is a creative who is fascinated by the details of life. She feels most at home in an airport and cares most deeply about culture, exploring the world, and global justice. Riley also believes in the power of storytelling and in a love that has no limits. Keep up with Riley on her Instagram page where she contemplates grace and writes her raw thoughts on life, faith, and the world around her.

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Disney Fantasy

Cruise line Disney Cruise Line

• Port Canaveral (Orlando, Florida)

Disney Fantasy current position

Disney Fantasy current location is at Gulf of Mexico (coordinates 24.38138 N / -81.40593 W) cruising at speed of 18.7 kn (35 km/h | 22 mph) en route to Cozumel. The AIS position was reported 7 minutes ago.

Current itinerary of Disney Fantasy

Disney Fantasy current cruise is 7 days, round-trip Western Caribbean Cruise From Port Canaveral . Prices start from USD 3613 (double occupancy rates). The itinerary starts on 20 Apr, 2024 and ends on 27 Apr, 2024 .

Specifications of Disney Fantasy

•   Itineraries
•   Review
•   Wiki

Disney Fantasy Itineraries

Disney fantasy review, review of disney fantasy.

The 2012-built MS Disney Fantasy cruise ship is Walt Disney 's second (Dream-class) liner with sistership Disney Dream (2010).

The vessel (IMO number 9445590) is currently Bahamas- flagged (MMSI 311058700) and registered in Nassau .

History - construction and ownership

DCL-Disney Cruise Line is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company (shipowner). The company was incorporated in 1996 as "Magical Cruise Company Ltd". Walt Disney also owns the Bahamian private island Castaway Cay (exclusive port of call - for Disney ships only) and an exclusive Cruise Terminal at Port Canaveral (Orlando Florida) . Disney cruises are marketed as "family vacations" and feature unique and exclusive activities, such as costumed Disney Characters, adults-only deck areas, dedicated facilities for teens, kids and infants-toddlers, signature (trademarked) shipboard facilities and activities, themed live entertainment.

The 4000-passenger ship Disney Fantasy is no exception with its primary market being families with small children (especially with kids younger than 8) - the major revenue provider for the unique Walt Disney company. MS Disney Fantasy is almost 50% larger, 2-deck taller and with 44% bigger passenger capacity than the older fleet mates Magic and Wonder . The ship design is inspired by traditional 1920s ocean liners. The vessel features a navy blue hull, 2 bright red funnels, elegant Art Deco decorations and some of the most innovative technologies and fun ideas at sea, including:

• 22 pieces of "Enchanted Art" adorning the walls of hallways - paintings and pictures that are actually framed LCD screens with a technology to recognize guests present and proceeding with one of several animations;
• wave phones in every stateroom (used to call or text other guests) and effectively replacing the old onboard beeper system (now the counselors' messages come directly to the parents' phones);
• the Magical Portholes on the walls of all Disney Fantasy Inside cabins (LED screens showing a real-time view of the ship).

The CLIENTELE consists almost entirely of North American travelers (the USA and Canada). The new Disney Lines approach to teens and young couples (by age-related activities and limited access onboard venues) adds a really strong appeal for multi-generational cruisers.

The DRESS CODE is similar to that of the Disney luxury resorts - day casual and evening resort casual (men - jackets (no ties) and pants, women - summer dresses). All Disney Fantasy sailings include one pirate and one semi-formal night. On 3-day Disney Fantasy cruises, one night is casual, 4-day sailings are with 2 casual evenings and on 5-day voyages 3 nights are casual.

Disney Fantasy TIPS (totaling the US $12 PP per day) are given to waiters (including the assistant waiters) and to cabin attendants. Additionally, a 15% gratuity on all drinks is automatically charged to guests' shipboard accounts.

Decks and Cabins

Most Disney Fantasy staterooms (1250 total, in 28 grades) are 205-255-ft2 Balconies. The ship has 21 Suites, 887 Balcony, 199 Oceanview and 150 Inside cabins. The largest accommodations are the Concierge Royal Suites (900 ft2 / 84 m2 plus 885 ft2 / 82 m2 terrace).

Disney Fantasy ship cabins are very well planned and equipped. Like on all Disney ships, Disney Fantasy staterooms are some of the industry's largest standard cabins, most of them designed to easily accommodate four passengers. Some of the best Disney cabins features are the ample closet space, the normal-sized living space and the split bathrooms (1 room with shower-bathtub-sink and a separate toilet and sink). Beds on Fantasy are raised to allow storing 2 medium-sized suitcases underneath, staterooms also got 2 vanities, a 22-inches smart HDTV, an iPod docking station and 2 rechargeable "Wave Phones" to be used ship-wide. The Disney Fantasy Inside cabin has a most innovative feature (and the industry's first, for that matter) - the Magical Portholes, which are LCD screens (above the beds) in the shape of portholes, projecting a real-time view outside the ship (provided by cameras). Veranda cabins feature 2 chairs and a small table on the balcony.

Concierge Suites and Concierge Family Cabins (Deck 11-12) are new for the line, offering direct access to the ship's concierge facilities (1 small lounge, a private sun deck area with chairs, free food and drinks). Most of the 1-bedroom suites are with connecting doors (1 queen bed, a sitting area with a double convertible sofa, 1 pull-down bed in the living rooms, a walk-in closet, 2 bathrooms (one with a hot-tub).

The largest Disney Fantasy stateroom, the Royal Suite, adds to all previously mentioned a living room, a wet bar, a kitchenette, media library and a Jacuzzi on the balcony.

The boat has 14 decks , of which 9 are with cabins.

Shipboard dining options - Food and Drinks

The Disney Fantasy three themed main restaurants are called "Animator's Palate", "Enchanted Garden" and "Royal Palace". There are 2 adults-only specialty restaurants - "Remy" (named after the "Ratatouille" movie star, French cuisine) and "Palo" (Italian cuisine) as alternative dining options. The line's Rotational Dining system allows you to rotate to each of the three main restaurants each night while your servers follow you. The Animator's Palate has screens showing animated Disney characters and themes from "Finding Nemo" movie. The Enchanted Garden is a Versailles-inspired room, featuring lighting effects, transforming day into night. The Royal Palace is princesses-themed with numerous portraits of "Cinderella" and the "Sleeping Beauty" movie characters (even the bread baskets are shaped as the Cinderella's coach). The food quality is very good, the service staff is amicable and timely.

The Remy specialty restaurant is a classy place to be on any special occasion, offering a marvelous French menu and charging serious prices - a service fee of $75 PP (reservations are required, along with the formal dress code), drinks and wine are additional. The Palo restaurant is an Italian (Mediterranean) eatery with $20 cover PP (serves dinner and on selected days - Champagne brunch). Superb fish and seafood entrees, a cold buffet (meats, cheese, shrimp, salads and desserts) and several hot made-to-order items. The "Cabanas" casual dining complex on Deck 11 has several food and drink stations for hot and cold buffet items (including made-to-order omelets and sandwiches). The "Flo's Cafe" offers burgers, chicken fingers, wraps, pizza, salads.

Follows the complete list of Disney Fantasy restaurants and food bars.

• Enchanted Garden Restaurant (696-seat forward Dining Room, inspired by the gardens of Versailles; serves as a buffet for breakfast and lunch, full service for dinner 5:45-8:15 p.m.)
• Royal Palace Restaurant (696-seat forward Dining Room, offers complimentary French cuisine; specialty coffees and drinks are extra)
• Animator's Palate Restaurant (696- seat aft Dining Room, animator's studio design, features favorite Disney-character dinner shows; serves complimentary drinks; Rotational Dining with two fixed Dinner seatings - at 5:45 p.m. and 8:15 p.m.)
• Flo's Cafe (quick service restaurant with 3 food stations: "Fillmore's Favorites" (lite lunch, complimentary), "Tow Mater's Grill" (burgers bar, complimentary) and "Luigi"s Pizza")
• Cabanas (self-service complimentary restaurant with American cuisine, pasta, sushi)
• Remy (reservations-only, adults-only French specialty restaurant for lunch and dinner; aft location, bookings via the internet or onboard)
• Palo (144-seat Italian specialty restaurant; adults-only, reservation-only; aft location; bookings via the internet or on board).

Shipboard entertainment options - Fun and Sport

The Disney Fantasy kids cruise fun clubs are the main reason for the line's high loyalty passengers ratio. Besides all the Disney characters and most innovative technologies and fun attractions on ships, the Disney children counselors are a pretty big reason many families to repeat their visits. Always smiling and friendly, they are hugely experienced, all college-educated, attentive and downright. The Oceaneer's "Club" and "Lab" facilities (ages 3-10) are connected, thus doubling the fun space. The "Oceaneer's Club" features the "Andy's Room" (with oversized Disney characters for kids to climb on) and the "Laugh Floor" (with its "laugh-o-meter" and Mike and Sully of "Monsters Inc"). The "Oceaneer's Lab" is maritime-themed, featuring an Animator's Studio and a small Sound Studio. The new Disney approach allows all kids ages 3-10 to access the same clubs with separate rooms and age-related activities.

The Fantasy ship children club is called "Edge" (ages 11-13) properly secluded on Deck 13 in the funnel. Best attractions here are the 18 ft (5,5 m) tall LCD wall, the video karaoke, and numerous interconnected PCs. The teen-only "Vibe" club (ages 14-17) is of 9000 ft2 (836 m2), with a fountain bar and its own sun deck and pools.

Public spaces are decorated in deep blue and red, with numerous "Mickeys" just about everywhere (cabin, artwork, dinnerware, railings). One of the ship's most memorable places is the 3-deck high Atrium lobby with its golden hue, the wide royalty-style winding staircase, and the Donald Duck bronze statue. The Fantasy Atrium is a hub area connecting restaurants, theaters, and shops. You may check emails in the Internet cafe, but there's also a Wi-Fi coverage throughout the ship. Like all Disney ships, Fantasy has no casino.

• Fun activities on board

All Disney stage shows feature intricate sets and Disney themed captivating performances, and the big place for grand entertainment is the Disney Theater with goldies like the "Golden Mickeys" and "Villains Tonight", new amazing stage productions, like the "Disney's Believe" (directed by Gordon Greenberg) and all the best Disney movies in 3D. The themed Disney characters onboard have always been the greatest sensation of all, and there are countless opportunities to meet and greet Mickey and company around the ship - in contrast to Disneyland, here they all are accessible and will always stop for a hug and a photo with you. Another big success is the "Pirates in the Caribbean" kids party divided into two programs - the sing-along called "Mickey's Pirates in the Caribbean" followed by the "Club Pirate" (with many special effects) and great Disney fireworks between the shows.

• SPA and FITNESS, pools, waterslide, technology

The "Senses" Spa & Salon offers all the usual treatments (haircuts, manicures) and more exotic choices (hot-stone massages, mud baths). The "Chill" is a teen-only Spa within the facility. The Fitness Center along with the usual equipment offers at additional fee Yoga and Pilates classes. The Sports Deck has a small sports court, a mini-golf course, Ping-Pong tables, a walking/jogging track.

The pool deck has a large area for family fun water activities, featuring 2 hot tubs and 2 kids pools - "Donald's" (5 ft deep) and "Mickey's" (with a spiral slide). A big attraction here is the big LED screen mounted on the funnel. There's a toddler splash area (Nemo themed) located in the center on Deck 11 with huge glass panes for parents to monitor their kids.

The AquaDuck waterslide. The ever first water-coaster at sea is located atop the ship, featuring a 765 ft (233 m) long 4-decks high transparent tube, reaching the incredible 150 ft (46 m) above the ocean (there's a 42 inches (107 cm) height requirement). The "Nemo's Reef" is a small kids waterpark. And while speaking of water and pools - the adults only "Quiet Cove" pool area is a great place to hide from all the little angels and devils around the ship.

Follows the complete list of Disney Fantasy lounges, clubs and other entertainment venues for kids, teens, and adults.

• Walt Disney Fantasy Theatre (1340-seat, offers live shows, aerial acrobatics performances, grand-style productions, 3D movies; with two evening shows - at 6:15 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.)
• Fantasy's Atrium (3-deck high central ship area, featuring marble-carpet flooring, grand staircase, and panoramic glass elevators)
• Mickey's Mainsail (Disney brand logo shop for postcards, souvenirs, DVDs, toys, clothes, games)
• Sea Treasures (duty-free crystal, brand jewelry, watches, precious stones, Disney merchandise, underwear, sport, and swimming apparel)
• Whitecaps (duty-free brand jewelry, perfumes, liquor, and tobaccos)
• Bon Voyage Bar (adults-only, serving wine, beer, and cocktails)
• Buena Vista Theatre (399-seat 4D cinema, features 3D movies, Dolby Surround 7.1 and Dolby 3D movie technology)
• Preludes Bar (quick wait-service snacks & beverages bar)
• Shutters PhotoShop (photo packages, accessories, photographic services)
• Vista Cafe (atrium bar for specialty coffees and teas, dinner cocktails, complimentary snacks, and pastries; Wi-Fi spot)
• D Lounge Bar & Nightclub; The Tube Disco & Nightclub; Vista Gallery
• Europa District (adults only area including Ooh La La Bar; La Piazza Bar; The Tube disco; O'Gills Pub; Skyline Bar)
• Vibe Disco & Club Lounge (teens only)
• Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique (youth club "princesses and pirates" for kids 3-12 yo)
• It's A Small World Nursery (for 3 months to 3 yo infants and toddlers; reservations required)
• Fantasy's Oceaneer Club (kids 3-12 yo; with four play areas with themes from Disney films); Fantasy's Oceaneer Lab (play area for kids 3-12 yo)
• Senses Spa & Fitness Complex (with 17 treatment rooms; 1 Whirlpool; "Rainforest Room"; "Relax Room"; Fitness Centre /health and wellbeing seminars; Beauty Salon)
• Luxurious Spa Villas (two private suites with own hot tub, private verandah, Roman bed with canopy, open-air shower)
• Quiet Cove Pool (adults only pool, served by Cove Bar; with 2 Whirlpools)
• Chill Spa (teens only spa with separate relaxation area and treatment rooms)
• Cove Cafe (adult-only, with big TV screen; Wi-Fi spot)
• Outdoor LED movie screen (24x14 ft)
• Eye Scream Treats Bar (complimentary ice cream, poolside)
• Frozone Treats (iced fruit smoothies bar, poolside)
• Whozits & Whatzits (pool shop for AquaDuck related stuff)
• Donald's Pool; Mickey's Pool; Wading Pool (adults only); Satellite Falls (circular pool; adults only)
• Nemo's Reef (waterplay kids zone; features characters meetings and greetings)
• Arr-cade (kids/teens video games arcade)
• Waves Bar (family poolside bar)
• Meridian Lounge & Bar (adults-only venue for dinner cocktails); Concierge Lounge
• Currents Bar (outdoor bar for cold drinks, refreshments, cocktails)
• Edge Lounge (11-14 yo teens-only club area, with a giant video wall, interactive games, Internet)
• Goofy's Sports Deck (Walking Track, Jogging Track, 9-hole Mini-Golf Course, Virtual sport games simulators, combined sports court, Ping Pong/Foosball tables)
• Radio Studio (live radio programs for Disney Fantasy itinerary-related news and onboard events)
• Outlook Bar (retreat area with a piano and full bar; hosts weddings receptions).

Itineraries

Disney Fantasy itinerary program is based on 7-day roundtrips to the Eastern and Western Caribbean departing from Port Canaveral/Orlando Florida . Call port destinations include DCL's private Bahamian island Castaway Cay , Charlotte Amalie (St Thomas USVI) , Road Town (Tortola BVI) , George Town (Grand Cayman) , Cozumel Mexico , Falmouth Jamaica .

Disney Fantasy - user reviews and comments

Photos of disney fantasy.

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Other Disney Cruise Line cruise ships

• Disney Adventure
• Disney Destiny
• Disney Dream
• Disney Magic
• Disney Treasure
• Disney Wish
• Disney Wonder

Disney Fantasy Wiki

The Walt Disney ship Fantasy is the company's fourth (currently newest) liner, with sistership Disney Dream . Each vessel is 40% larger in size than the 2 older Disney ships Magic and Wonder . While its capacity (at double occupancy) is 2500, Fantasy can accommodate up to 4000 passengers at full/max occupancy (all berths).

The vessel (Mayer Neptun yard/hull number 688) is powered by MAN B&W marine diesel engines (3x 12-cyl, 2x 14-cyl) plus diesel generators (3x 14,4 MW, 2x 16,8 MW) with total power output 76,8 MW. The propulsion system is electric (based on two converteam propulsion motors) with total power output 26 MW, plus two FPPs (5-blade Fixed-Pitch Propellers/inward-turning).

The vessel was ordered on February 22, 2007. Ship design was announced on Oct 29, 2009, and the first steel cut was in March 2009. The vessel's construction started with the keel-laying ceremony held on February 11, 2011. The launch (float-out from drydock) was on January 8, 2012, and the ship was officially delivered to The Walt Disney Company on February 9, 2012 (at Port Bremerhaven ).

The inaugural call at Port NYC New York (first arrival in the USA) was on February 28, 2012. The liner was christened in NYC on March 1st (2012) by Godmother Mariah Carey (1970-born US singer, actress, record producer, entrepreneur). The hull's stern character is the Flying Elephant Dumbo.

The Disney ship's namesakes are Carnival Fantasy (1990-built) and the cruise ferries Color Fantasy (2004) and Moby Fantasy (2023).

Fantasy vs Magic (ships comparison, new features)

"Bibbiti Bobbiti Boutique" (the 1st at sea, similar to those at all Disney land parks where girls transform into princesses). The ship-Boutique is also transformed into a Pirates League (during the Caribbean Pirates-themed night party) where kids get transformed into pirates. Aqualab is another feature (was, because now they added it to the Magic during the 2013 refurbishment). The nightclub "districts" area ("Europa") transforms into several different "districts" representing famous European cities & countries. Among those - "Tube" (London, UK), "Ooh La La" (France), "O'Gill's Pub" (Ireland), "La Piazza" (Italy). "Satellite Falls" is the Fantasy's adults-only deck. The "Animator's Palate" dining room's dinner show is themed "Sorcerer Mickey's "Animation Magic". Guests may draw their own characters to be presented by Mickey the Sorcerer Mouse.

One of the most visited attractions on MS Disney Fantasy is the AquaDuck. This water park with a slide will throw you into the swimming pool after a craziest spin in a long tube over the very ocean. Fantasy was also the debut for the "Muppets at Sea" show. Muppets participate in an interactive game full of mysterious clues for the passengers.

The vessel's last drydock (for regularly scheduled maintenance works) was in 2020 (at Damen Shiprepair Yard in Brest France ).

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Disney Fantasy

Fantasy becomes reality., onboard fun.

There’s never a dull moment aboard the Disney Fantasy! With a near endless number of activities, eateries and experiences for the entire family, it’s easy to not ever want to leave the ship.

View All Onboard Activities on the Disney Fantasy

Entertainment

Disney knows a thing or two about keeping Guests engaged—and it’s no exception on a Disney cruise. View More

Fun comes in every form on the Disney Fantasy—with clubs for tweens to teens, adults-only areas and pools for everybody! View More

Savor distinctive choices onboard—from menus inspired by romantic destinations to restaurants with magical themes. View More

FIREWORKS AT SEA

Character appearances, first-run movies, daily activities.

View all Entertainment on the Disney Fantasy

FOR THE ADULTS

Youth activities, sports and fitness.

View all Recreation on the Disney Fantasy

MAIN DINING

Casual dining, adult-exclusive dining.

View all Dining on the Disney Fantasy

SPOTLIGHT AT SEA

With everything to do on the Disney Fantasy, how do you choose? Here are just a few of the must-see experiences worth a lifetime of memories.

Disney’s Aladdin – A Musical Spectacular

Enjoy a live musical comedy based on the Disney classic complete with flying carpet, magic lamp and wise-cracking genie.

Seasonal Days at Sea

Delight in holiday magic at sea between mid-September and the end of the year as Disney Cruise Line celebrates Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmastime and New Year’s Eve.

Experience the AquaDuck, an exhilarating sky-high wild water ride—the first-of-its-kind water coaster at sea!

Indulge in tantalizing French-gourmet fare at this adult-exclusive restaurant boasting sweeping sea views and a chic ambience.

Sweet On You

Treat yourself to a decadent indulgence—these delightful frozen desserts are delicious fun for the whole family!

Designed especially for families, Disney Cruise Line staterooms aboard the Disney Fantasy are equipped with innovations that ensure the ultimate in comfort and relaxation for Guests of all ages.

Indulge in our most luxurious accommodations on the Disney Fantasy with large private verandahs, separate bedrooms, premium amenities and services.

Breathe in the ocean air from these richly appointed accommodations designed for families of 3 to 5—featuring a private balcony and sweeping sea views.

Relax in roomy, quarters bedecked in a charming nautical motif with Art Deco flourishes—plus one or 2 portholes for admiring the scenery.

Sleep soundly in spacious accommodations, each with a Magical Porthole showing real-time ocean views and animated Disney characters.

PORTS OF CALL

The Caribbean boasts some of the most breathtaking locales in the world—from sparkling sugary white shores to amazing underwater wonders.

Eastern Caribbean

White-sand beaches, rocky mountain landscapes and a European flair make this region a favorite of jetsetters and vacationers alike.

Western Caribbean

Embark on a scenic journey awash with historic sites and natural wonders in destinations that include Mexico, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.

Castaway Cay

Reserved for Guests on Disney Cruise Line Caribbean and Bahamian cruise vacations, Castaway Cay is Disney's private island paradise.