Went on this cruise because a friend at work had taken a 3 day Disney cruise to see if it was worth the cost. She came back raving so we thought we'd give it a try. We've been on about 5 other cruises on different lines but never did Disney because of the cost. Embarkation: Spent the 3 days prior to the cruise at WDW and used Disney travel to get to the pier. They picked up our luggage at our hotel room in the morning. We went to the lobby of our hotel to get ready to go on the bus. Everything was seamless and well organized. Didn't see our bags until we got to our cabin. When the bus got to the port, we got off, spent about 5 minutes going through security another 5 minutes to check in and get on the ship. It was that fast and easy. Cabin The ship was more than we expected. Disney details and magic everywhere. We got an oceanview cabin on deck 2. The room was slightly larger than other cabins we've been in before with a ton of storage. The 2 bathrooms (1 with a shower and 1 with a toilet) was really nice. The only annoying thing was having to use your card to get the electricity to work. Read reviews that said to take a throw away card to use instead and this worked like a charm. The bed was absolutely fabulous! THE most comfortable bed we've had on a cruise and we've been on about 5 others on different cruise lines. The TV had most of the more popular Disney movies available complementary. We watched them while getting ready and went through about 5 of them. Dining The rotational dining was a lot nicer than I thought it would be. The buffet was amazing. On other cruise lines the buffet is good but seems an afterthought. Most food in the buffet on other cruises can be hit or miss. The food in the buffet on Disney is perfect every time! It was as good as some of the MDR food on other ships. The food in the main dining rooms was fabulous! My wife and I have noticed over the years that the quality of the food in the MDRs on other ships has slipped since the emergence of specialty restaurants. The cruise lines want to upsell the specialty restaurants and so they save the really good food for them and allow the MDR food to slip in quality. Not so on Disney! The MDR food was great. We chose the late dining time to avoid as many children as possible. Disney didn't miss a trick. They sat us with 2 other couples who were virtually the same as we were. We were all within a few years apart in age. It was very enjoyable. Entertainment The entertainment was Disney. There were mostly really good shows. A few non-Disney ones that were generally pretty good. The late night entertainment was the only good late night entertainment we have experienced on all our cruises and went to it every night. There was so much to do all day every day. Much more than others. The Disney Cruise Line app was fabulous. It took all the info from the Navigator and put it in an electronic form. You could save the things you wanted to do and they'd send you a reminder. Service The service was top notch. Have never had bad service on any cruise. This was a step above those however. Disembarkation Easiest I've ever experienced. The main thing about Disney is the little details everywhere that immerse you in the whole experience. They're everywhere and too many to list. Even if you aren't a total Disney Geek you'll love it. If you are a Disney Geek you will be in heaven! Read Less

We were a family group of ages girl 4, boy 5, mom 45, aunt 50, dad 52, and myself the grandmother 76. It is hard to find a family vacation that will suit such a disparate group, but we settled on a Disney cruise out of Cape Canaveral. This was a good choice. Since the little ones could go to the "kids club" for many happy hours and give their parents a break, and there was a small adult pool area for we single women to escape the noise, it worked quite well for everyone in our party. The children were kept so busy and happy, they cried when they had to leave the ship at the end. For the children and their parents it was a great success. Adult areas were a disappointment. There was no library. When I inquired I was directed to Cove Cafe, the extra pay specialty coffee area. It had 5, count 'em 5, books! There were a few old magazines, too. No other reading material was on board. Disney movies played on outdoor screens, in an indoor theatre and all were available on the stateroom TV all the time - which is what they wanted us to watch. The adult pool was tiny with an attached bar, so it was usually crowded. Mostly people stood in place chatting with drinks in hand, their buckets of beer on the side of the pool. It was impossible to swim. The children's pools were larger but with kids in water wings, throwing beach balls and splashing about it was not a place to swim either. We had adjoining balcony staterooms 8520 and 8522 which are quite far forward, but this was intentional to try to get away from some of the noise and thumping of children's feet running up and down the corridors. Amidships was where the atrium with loud music, kids screaming, shouted amplified instructions for games, and endless lineups for meeting the Disney characters went on day and night. Many families with babies and small children tended to have cabins amidships or aft where it was quicker and easier to go up to the buffet and the children's pools. Being forward was quieter and the little ones were able to nap in the afternoons if needed. It also my single daughter, who found the constant noise (and unrelenting music even piped into the hallways) rather oppressive as the week went on, was able to retreat into our quiet stateroom for a break. The ship is huge. It was a long way to walk from forward to aft. As the grandmother with fairly recent foot surgery, and I arrived with a folding wheelchair, anticipating the long walks. My single daughter pushed me in my wheelchair at times, but the hallways are carpeted making pushing it a bit difficult, so more often I walked slowly with my cane. On the other hand, the wheelchair was handy as sort of a double stroller to push the little ones around when their legs were tired. I saw some other older people who had rented electric scooters from Disney to get around the huge ship, and if you have someone in your party who has mobility issues, I would recommend that instead. The Caribbean ports were fine, and Castaway Key was lovely as a beach day. But Falmouth Jamaica was not a Jamaican experience, it was no different than a nice shopping mall in Florida. Designed with a new pier including a large new pretty shopping area fenced off from the rest of island, there was not much to do except shop. Beaches were 30 minutes away and to get out of the fenced area to find a taxi involved a long walk through all the shops to a gate at the end with security guards. We didn't bother. The adult pool was vacated. Most of the regulars had gone ashore, so I was actually able to have a couple of short swims that day in the adult pool. . Embarkation and debarkation went smoothly. Restaurant service was excellent. We were assigned dinner each night in one of the 3 restaurants. Two were nice, especially Royal Court, but Animator's Palate had screens all around the room, and a constant Nemo show running with loud dialogue. It was meant to entertain the children but they weren't interested, and we adults couldn't hear each other speak. So since we were assigned that room for three nights on a 7 day voyage, we were not happy. After one night in Animator's Palate we didn't go again and were forced to eat elsewhere. However, we were able to eat in an extra pay adult specialty restaurant, Palo, while the children were looked after in "kids club". It all worked out in the end. The ship is kept spotless, and the crew are constantly cleaning both inside public areas and the outside of the ship. Despite many small fingers and little runny noses, with hand sanitizer gel and cleaning wipes everywhere, we never were concerned about germs or getting ill on board. Read Less

We have a 6-year old granddaughter & thought this would be a great cruise to take with her. However, it turned out to be not so great. The internet is awful, extremely expensive even if all you need to do is to send a short (all word) e-mail to keep our granddaughter's Mom informed about a stomach issue she had. We took an excursion that cost us over $300 for the 3 of us that would not let us take pictures & then wanted $200 for 6 pictures. When we complained to Disney, they said they had known about this issue for years and yet had not done anything about it. The swimming pool is so small that you can barely stand up in it much less swim. Our granddaughter loves to swim so she was disppointed. The last day at sea was a Star Wars Day and Disney meant it. There was absolutely nothing to do on the ship if you were not into Star Wars. Not a movie, nothing!! The entertainment on the ship was exactly the same entertainment we had last year on the Magic. Surely there are other entertainers that would come on the ship. The food was always lukewarm. Because our granddaughter had to see the doctor on the ship, we missed our evening meal time so we went to Cabanas. At Cabanas (no reservations taken) we were told that the three open tables were being reserved for people who had called ahead. Isn't that a reservation? So we would not miss the evening show, we went to Flo's where they were out of pizza and had two choices of food items. Again, a very disappointing situation at Disney. We will not be going on another Disney cruise. The characters never showed up at a single meal as they did on the Wonder last year. Obviously the Fantasy does not care about providing an exception "Family Cruise". Actually, the one good thing about the ship was the two doctors we saw on the ship. They were fantastic. Never again on Disney. Read Less