Sherri Eisenberg, ContributorWhen you have kids, everyone tells you that your “vacation” days are over. From now on, you can go someplace else — but you’ll just be parenting with a change of scenery. There is some truth to this, especially when your kids are little. On our first family vacations, my husband made a point of smirking and mouthing “this is the fun of being a parent” every time we would be up at the crack of dawn with a wide-awake child, in our room mid-afternoon for his nap, at a restaurant we wouldn’t normally choose because they had a good kids’ menu, or in bed at 8 pm with the lights out coaxing him to sleep on our vacations. His taunting continued for years.
My son turned five last May, and I recently took him on his first Disney cruise aboard Disney Cruise Line’s 2,700-passenger Disney Magic. (My teenage stepsons said “hard pass” to a ship filled with babies, toddlers, and preschoolers — their personal nightmares.) So it was just the three of us, and the trip was an eye opener in so many ways. On one hand, it enabled my husband and I to have more of a “break” on vacation than we ever have at hotels, resorts or AirBnBs. But we also learned a different way of cruising than the trips we took before our little guy was born, and picked up a lot of helpful insights along the way.
I’ve Been on More than 100 Cruises — And This Is What I Learned from My Son’s First Disney Cruise
Family-friendly ships are designed for kids.
If you’ve traveled without children, like I did for many years, your first cruise on a ship like Disney Magic with kids is an eye opener. The ship is designed for children. As an adult, you are not the target audience. (Though, all Disney cruise ships do have adult-friendly options including everything from a spa, bars, and specialty restaurants for those traveling without little ones.)
My son’s favorite thing is Marvel and, walking into the Oceaneer Club for the first time for a tour, his little eyes lit up. Sure, there’s Andy’s Room, a multi-level play area that celebrates the “Toy Story” movies with a Slinky Dog slide, and Pixie Hollow, a crafting area themed to Tinker Bell’s forest. They looked pretty cool to me. But his eyes focused right in on the Marvel Super Hero Academy.
A counselor walked over and showed him how to play the Marvel virtual reality game that’s only available on this ship. He jumped up and down, punching the air to fend off the bad guys, delighting in watching his character mirror his movements on the giant video projection. Then he turned to face me with a grin, “Can I stay while you and Daddy tour the ship?” He was all in. And the best part is that all of these activities are included in the cruise fare.
Most playrooms at sea don’t allow parents inside.
As was the case on Disney Magic, the playrooms for kids — with different rooms based on their ages — are just for the little ones. Grown-ups are not allowed in outside of open houses. So, whether your child is a Marvel devotee or a Disney princess aficionado, the programming in there is just for them.
Kids are given wristbands that are scanned in when they come and go to track them. Both parents and kids can pull the plug on playtime whenever they like: parents can just show up and take them to other parts of the ship, and kids can ask for their parents to pick them up whenever they like. But as long as the little ones are enjoying their playtime, that’s not family time – it’s just for them.
Disney ships create magical vacations for every member of the family … but not always together.
From that first moment, the Marvel Super Hero Academy was like a magnet, pulling my son back into the Oceaneer Club whenever possible. I had explained to him that pre-pandemic the ship’s camp counselors would come to the dining rooms mid-way through dinner, scoop up the little ones that had finished their chicken fingers or burger or buttered pasta, and bring them up to the playroom so that parents could finish their meal alone — and maybe even get a cocktail afterward.
Disney Cruise Line temporarily discontinued this program in 2020. (However, the cruise line recently brought the “Dine & Play” program back in February 2025, and we couldn’t be more excited.)
Halfway through our dinner on the first night, my son looked me straight in the eye and said “So, they don’t pick up kids in the dining room anymore? But you or Daddy could take me up to the playroom and drop me off and then finish your dinner. It’s a great plan for everyone!” I looked at him sadly – he really didn’t want to have dinner with us? Nope, not with that amazing Marvel Super Hero Academy just upstairs. He wanted to take advantage of as many minutes as he could get up there, where he was able to not only play video games but have unlimited screen time, too. (Two things we don’t allow at home.)
My husband and I tried to enjoy getting to eat our desserts — and his, too — in peace and quiet, but there was an air of rejection between us. It feels different when a couple with kids finally gets time alone … but it’s because, for the first time, their kid has someplace else they’d rather be.
Activities for kids extend past the Oceaneer Club.
On one day of my Disney Magic sailing, the schedule of events included meet-and-greets with various Marvel super heroes, offered in sequence in a lounge from morning until just past lunchtime. He met with Spiderman, Black Panther, Captain America, and Thor. With the meet-and-greets an hour apart, everyone in line could meet their hero, have a quick chat, and take a few soon-to-be-cherished photos. My son was no exception – you only need to see the look of delight on his face in the picture when he’s standing next to Spider-Man to know how much the moment means to him.
These meet-and-greets took up the better half of our day, and were followed by a class in making your own hammer, led by Thor himself. My husband and I took turns shuttling my son around to these events, all of which felt, well, mandatory. Would I really be a good mom if I told my son, who seems sometimes to actually think he is an Avenger himself, that we were going to skip some of these moments and all go hang out at the pool together instead? It didn’t feel like it. And so we brought him to every event that was on the schedule.
The crew can make magic happen.
Of course, when you go on a Disney cruise, you fully expect the Mickey Mouse-shaped waffles on the buffet line and the chocolate-dipped Mouse head ice cream popsicles served at dessert. You even expect moments of great service, such as when our cabin steward noticed that my son loved the grapes on our welcome cheese tray and brought him more.
But a couple nights into our sailing, our cabin steward – who had noticed my son’s tendency to wear Marvel clothing and even Avenger costumes throughout our sailing — changed the sheets on his bed to Marvel sheets. He returned from dinner that night and squealed in delight. Honestly, this cruise could not have been a bigger hit with him.
Themed cruises are a true gift on these ships.
My son’s second favorite thing to Marvel? That would be Halloween. And our sailing, which took place in mid-September, was the first of the season’s “Halloween on the High Seas” themed cruises. The ship was already decked out with everything from pumpkins on the big tree in the foyer to jack-o’-lantern decals on portholes.
We took a “challenge accepted” attitude, and I packed The Incredibles family costumes for the first night and Star Wars family costumes for the second night, when we would take Joshua around the buffet area for a trick-or-treat experience set up by the crew.
Everything, from mealtimes to on-deck celebrations, are kid-oriented.
Disney Cruise Line has an ingenious rotational dining program in which families dine in each of the restaurants onboard for different nights, with the same table numbers and wait staff in each one. The result? After the first night, our waiter and waitress had our drinks waiting on the table when we arrived (diet coke for my husband, iced tea for me, and chocolate milk — with just a smidge of chocolate — for the little one). They had even placed the order for my son’s preferred meal of a cheeseburger with chicken fingers and fruit on the side — hold the French fries, hold the veggies, don’t bother with dessert.
Some of the dining rooms also had dinner theater-style shows incorporated into the mealtime experience. Fun as they were, my son was still out of there as soon as he could be. He’s no fool. He knew his beloved virtual reality game would be most empty at dinnertime, when he wouldn’t have to take turns.
And the signature DCL on-deck celebration? That would be a pirate-themed stage show complete with fireworks. Kids are given red bandanas and eye patches to wear – for many, that meant along with their Disney costume of choice. It was fun to watch the fleet of superheroes and princesses dance along to the pop music. The crew was also passing bubble wands out on deck, so even before the fireworks started the audience was filled with bubbles that made the moment feel extra celebratory.
Of course, keeping your preschooler up until 10 pm to see fireworks comes with its own built-in punishments, but it appeared most families were willing to make the necessary sacrifices of overtired bedtimes and cranky morning sleepy heads.
Private islands are a welcome family experience.
On our sailing, we stopped at the new Lookout Cay at Lighhouse Point, a Bahamian “private island” resort space that Disney Cruise Line had just unveiled at the beginning of the summer. It was, in so many ways, an ideal family beach day. Picture a long pink strand that was so beautiful my husband assumed Disney had trucked in the palm trees and blush-hued sand to create a gorgeous Insta-worthy setting. (Nope, it’s naturally that spectacular.)
When we were ready for a break, there were plenty of buffets serving kid-friendly items along with the nods to Bahamian fare, which included curry, spiced rotisserie chicken, racks of ribs, pigeon peas and rice, plantains, and fried okra. There were also plenty of other little children to make sandcastles with when jumping waves with Mom and Dad got tiresome. It was a perfect beach day for all of us – and that family vacation moment I suspect I’ll hang on to for years.
Ready to make more memories, I’ll be sailing on Disney Dream with my little one soon. And he can’t wait to go into warp speed in the playroom’s Millennium Falcon.
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