Disney’s Fantasy Cruise: Best Vacation

This year we had the opportunity to learn more about Disney Cruise Lines and jumped at the chance to soak up the sunshine on Disney’s ship “Fantasy”. We all agreed that this was our best family vacation yet. (Not travelling with kids? Read about why you should still consider a Disney Cruise).​
​While we love Disney World and Disneyland for all their fantastic attractions, not to mention Universal’s Harry Potter rides, this cruise beat them all for providing so much to do for everyone, while being truly relaxing at the same time. Here’s what we loved most:

1. Disney’s kids’ clubs are probably the best on any cruise line. They have different clubs for all ages and are open more than most clubs, even while the ship is in port. The  club for ages 3 to 12 is made up of more than 10 themed rooms including Pixie Hollow with fairy houses, a Star Wars room with X-Wing simulators, Andy’s room and a Marvel room with a Dr. Strange video game. At certain times, one side of the club is open for families to play together – our family placed third in the soap car races. When parents aren’t there, Tinkerbell comes to hand out fairy talents, Mickey hosts a Roadster Racer challenge, and Timon recruits Lion Guard members. Karaoke, cooking, science, talent shows, video games, and crafts are just a few of the regular events. Plus dinner is served right in the club if kids prefer.

 2. Safety is priority: Each stateroom comes with a set of Wave phones, which let us give the kids some freedom to roam the ship on their own for short periods of time. We checked in with each other frequently while they played the Mid Ship Detective game. In this game the kids have a map to pictures hanging up around the ship. When they hold up their special card the picture changes to give them a clue to a mystery involving Mickey or the Muppets. There are many versions of the game so our kids played four different times!

3. More Family Activities than many ships: Disney's Fantasy has no shortage of water areas for all ages. Our 9 year old thinks he rode the Aqua-Duck waterslide 20 times! Our 5 year old enjoyed all the waterslides and the splash pad areas. We attended a drawing class, a kids dance party, a trivia game, bingo, open air mini-golf and enjoyed them all. All Disney ships show first run movies and Broadway Caliber Shows throughout the week. Perhaps most fun was Disney’s private island Castaway Cay. We’ve visited another cruise line’s private island that was very similar and really great but Disney wins for having more amazing snorkeling and two large floating playgrounds.

4. Characters are everywhere:  Just about every time we went to the lobby area and out on the deck we’d meet at least a few characters. You can see where characters will be on the Navigator app but they are out so often you don’t need to plan too hard. Minnie, Mickey, Daisy, Donald, Goofy, Pluto and Stitch sported different themed outfits each day. Even before your cruise you can choose tickets to the complimentary Princess Gathering, Frozen Meet and Greet and Disney Junior Character Breakfast on 7 nights or longer sailings.

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5. State Rooms are larger: An inside stateroom on a Disney cruise is larger than comparable rooms on most other ships. They can come with a bunk bed that your room steward will flip down from the ceiling each evening and they have a heavy curtain to divide the room. We all really loved the virtual window that showed what it looked like outside but only when you turned it on, plus virtual movie characters would randomly cruise by the window for a surprise. Overall, we felt the room was spacious, very clean and had good storage space. You can request a diaper genie, pack ‘n play, bed rails, booster seats or high chairs when you are checking in online, and are available for use for your entire trip at no cost!

Considering that this cruise was our third vacation within a year - we spent 10 days in Southern California and Disneyland in August and then two weeks in Southern Florida and Disney World over Christmas – we were pretty surprised that a cruise topped the list. But, the sheer number of family friendly activities available and the opportunity we had to let the kids enjoy some freedom on the ship while we enjoyed a quiet drink was pretty fantastic.