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Post updated 2/27/26.
Cool Things to Do on Your Disney Cruise
We’ve sailed Disney Cruise Line multiple times – from quick 3-night Bahamas sailings to longer itineraries – and every time we discover something new. Whether it’s your first cruise or your fifth, here are some cool (and slightly under-the-radar) things to make your Disney Cruise even more magical.
Remember – Disney (be it parks or cruise) is one of those trips that it really pays to do your research. The more you read up on tips/tricks, the more time you save, the better trip to you have.
Cool Things to Do on Your Disney Cruise
1. Surprise your kids with a character call before your cruise: After you book your cruise, log into your account on DCL’s website. Included in some of the pre-cruise activities that you can book is a character call informing the recipient of the upcoming trip. Choose from a couple different characters, schedule the time and date that work best for you and you’re set!
Mickey and Minnie called Lily to tell her about our cruise and she thought it was AWESOME!
2. Order Mickey Bars from Room Service (FOR FREE): When you board a Disney ship, you can order room service 24 hours a day. The menu in your stateroom will contain many tasty choices, but there is a well-known Disney treat that can be ordered from room service even though it is NOT on the menu. Premium Mickey Ice Cream Bars can be brought right to your room. All you have to do is ask!
Remember – room service is free but tipping customary!
3. Cookies and Milk Delivery: The ultimate bedtime wind-down activity.
Need a quiet activity after a day and night of visual and auditory stimulation? Place an order for some free room service – cookies and milk – before bed! Put your fave Disney flick on the tv, turn down the lights, and settle in for the night.
WANT THE ULTIMATE OMG TREAT? Put a Mickey Bar between two giant cookies! YUM!!
Again, because it bears repeating – room service is free but tipping is customary!
4. Download and use the Disney Cruise Lines Navigator app: There is nothing that I love more than a free app that does something cool. If you do nothing else, MAKE SURE that you download the FREE DCL Navigator app before you board your ship (or as SOON as you board, before you sail away and lose network signal). This app is available for iOS and Android devices. Once on board, put your phone on “airplane mode” and then connect to DCL’s guest WiFi. The WiFi will power this app throughout the cruise.
We found this app to be invaluable! Character meet and greets, showtimes, dinner menus, deck plans of the ship and MORE – all in the palm of our hands, all just a click away. It not only saved us time, but it helped us get around the ship and participate in many activities!
More features we enjoy on the Navigator app:
- Onboard chat feature (great for teens).
- Ability to “favorite” activities.
- Push notifications for reminders.
- Digital daily schedule instead of paper Navigator.
5. Purchase a starter pack of pins to trade: Pin trading – you might know that it’s all the rage at Disney Parks, but you can trade on DCL ships as well. Kids can trade with various cast members and be sure to check your daily Navigator for “Officer Pin Trading events.” Exactly as it sounds, kids can trade pins with ship officers.
Pins can be expensive! Save some money by purchasing a set of Disney pins before you leave for your vacation. As always, read seller feedback before purchasing to help ensure you get what you pay for. I bought Lily a starter set of pins on Ebay – 25 pins for $12.15 with free shipping. At 49 cents per pin, she’ll have a blast and I will enjoy knowing that I didn’t spend a fortune.
I highly recommend bringing or buying a lanyard for your pins. Dollar Tree usually has these (many times they even have Disney versions!). You can also find them on Amazon!
6. Enjoy the Pirate Night Deck Party (and bring supplies from home): Just about every Disney Cruise that sails in the Caribbean has a pirate-themed evening on one night of the trip. Ours was on the day we were docked in Nassau. This is also the night that you can watch a fireworks display right on the ship (weather permitting)!
The characters (Mickey, Minnie, etc) all put on their best pirate attire and guests are encouraged to join in the fun. As you might imagine, you can purchase pirate attire in the shops on board. You’ll save a lot of money, however, if you bring some pirate wear from home. I saw many kids wearing glow sticks as well. Pick up a pack at your local dollar store.
I bought a pirate costume, boots and tights for Lily before our trip. Amazon has a ton of kid pirate costumes. For less than $30 for everything, she had a great little outfit to wear. Bonus – the dress will make a nice addition to our dress-up bin and she can wear the boots to riding lessons.
Check out my dedicated pirate night tips post for more!
7. Character Meet and Greets: Just because you aren’t in the Disney Parks doesn’t mean you have to miss out on our favorite photo ops: character meet and greets! Disney Ships are just crawling with characters to interact with and take pictures with.
Check the app on Day 1 for princess or specialty meet requirements. Some experiences now use virtual queues or app sign-ups.
We have almost always found that lines for character meet and greets are lower in the morning and early afternoon. At night when most cruisers are out of their cabins for dinners and shows, the lines tend to be longer.
Disney Cruises are awesome for meeting characters because sometimes you’ll find characters not commonly found in the parks… AND many times the characters are dressed in tropical/pirate/etc costumes that you won’t see anywhere but on a cruise!
8. Bring travel mugs from home: Drinks (including soft drinks) on your Disney Cruise (except for alcohol) are all included. You will find an abundance of plastic glasses and also paper disposable cups. One great way to keep drinks hotter (or colder) longer is to bring an insulated travel mug with you.
We always bring our Tervis tumblers on cruises. We fill them with hot coffee in the morning and add ice cubes to fresh coffee to make iced coffee in the afternoon!
BONUS: Take Advantage of “Open House” in the Kids Clubs
This is SUCH an underrated tip.
On embarkation day and certain times during the cruise, Disney opens the kids clubs to families for walkthroughs. This is huge.
- Parents get to see the themed spaces (Marvel, Star Wars, Princess areas, etc.).
- Kids feel more comfortable leaving later.
- You can take photos inside – which you normally can’t.
- Adults without kids can explore during open house times too.
Even if your kids are hesitant about the clubs, attend Open House together on the first day. Walk through the spaces, try out the activities, and let them see how cool it is before drop-off time. It completely changes the vibe from “I’m too nervous to try it” to “I want to go back there!”
ANOTHER BONUS: Decorate your cabin door – they are magnetic! Cabin doors on DCL ships are magnetic (EXCEPT for Concierge level cabins). I could not believe how many doors on our cruise were decorated! Wreaths, pictures, dry erase boards and magnets of every shape and kind were plastered on doors up and down the hallway.
I made each kid a couple of Mickey Mouse shaped magnets – and used my thermal laminator to make them even sturdier.
Every Disney Cruise feels magical – but the little insider tips are what take it from great to unforgettable. Whether it’s a surprise phone call, a midnight Mickey Bar, or watching fireworks at sea dressed like a pirate, these are the moments your kids will talk about for years.
Pssst…. I wrote a FOLLOW UP post to this one!!! Check out 15 MORE Cool Things to do on Disney Cruises for even more fun things to do on Disney Ships!!
What cool off-the-beaten path things did YOU do on YOUR Disney Cruise? Share in the comments below!
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Those tips are great! Thanks!! I’d order a Mickey bar for breakfast with my first coffee and for a late night snack ;)
LOL! I like the way you think, Shayla. I just might have to do that next time! :)
Great tips!! Thanks for sharing!
YW! :)
OH such wonderful tips!!! I love that you can get a call to your child before you go! How fun!!! I hope we can do one someday!
Thank you!! It truly was an amazing trip!
Love the door signs, how did you make them?
I found the templates online, edited them with my kids’ names on PicMonkey.com and then printed them. I cut them out, put them on cardstock to make them a tad more rigid and then laminated them with my little Scotch thermal laminator. They came out great!! :)
Going on our 1st trip to the Caribbean. Awsome tips! Thank you so much!!!
You’re so welcome – have a wonderful time!
Back in March I stressed so much about the pins. I got mine on Ebay and all was fine. Pin trading got my daughter out of her shell.
I was so glad I just bit the bullet and bought some – saved money and she had a great time trading!
Nothing in the world better than a Disney cruise! I’m really surprised you didn’t mention Fish Extenders, either here or in your cruise review. They are definitely the most unusual and unique thing you can participate in on a Disney cruise. You could write a whole post on that alone. ☺ If you don’t know what it is, just do a search and check it out. Your Lily would have loved participating in a Fish Extender group! Next time, right? And anyone who’s been on a Disney cruise knows there will definitely be a next time.
Yup, I know all about FEs! There was a group for our cruise but I felt like it was going to be all I could handle to get us and all of our baby gear (Landon was just 5 months old) onto the ship without worrying about bringing and delivering FEs. They looked like a ton of fun though! If we had done them and I could have written about them from actual experience, I would have included that in this post. Definitely plan to participate in them when the kids are a tad older!!
I’m taking my kids this august… I can’t wait to use these tips! Thank you so much!
Have a great time!
Great tips. We are going in June
Have a great time!!
how did you make these magnets? They look so cool and I would like to make some for my family.
I actually just google searched until I found designs that I liked. Then I personalized them in PicMonkey and printed them out. :)
how did you make the door magnets?
I put them together in photoshop and printed them on cardstock. Then I laminated them and stuck magnets on the back. :)
Looks like an amazing vacation! We’ve never been on a cruise, let alone a Disney one. It’s on my travel bucket list. The tumblers are also a great suggestion for vacations to any hot destination. We’ve brought ours to all-inclusive resorts as well.
Thanks, Katie! Totally agree – our tumblers come on almost every kind of trip that we take! Almost always nicer than the to-go option at any resort, hotel, ship, etc.
I’ve been on a cruise before, but a Disney cruise is on our family bucket list. Great tips!
Thanks, Rachel!
They were allowing signatures on objects during the special group character meet and greet. You may want to investigate further if this is still true. We had cruised last August the first week they took the signing features away.
Thanks for letting me know! We cruise this fall – I will investigate for sure!
Where did you get the baby pirate outfit? We need something for my son!
Did I miss it? Where is the site or how did you make the actually designs of the door decor? Those are so cute and would like to make some for my next trip as well.
LOL! That’s a great question and you’re the first person to ask it! I believe I got them years ago in this FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/116423142073711. Then I added text over top of the images, printed and laminated them. :)
All your tips were wonderful, except for #4. I really wish people would stop buying those cheap fake pins from China, they ruin the pin trading experience. Otherwise, thanks for the tips!