We spent Christmas 2024 aboard the Disney Fantasy! This was our family’s first cruise. There were 13 people in our travel group, including seven kids ages 9-17. We sailed from Port Canaveral on a 4-Night Very Merrytime Bahamian Cruise with stops at Disney Castaway Cay and Disney Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point, which were both wonderful. I think four nights was a good length, and the end of December was a great time to go weather-wise! Our kids are 12 and 9, and they had so much fun! The ship felt very safe and the kids enjoyed the freedom to check themselves in and out of the kids’ clubs and grab chicken strips at Flo’s Café and ice cream cones at Eye Scream at any time of day.

We stayed at a Disney resort in Orlando the night before and after our sailing, and spent the day at Magic Kingdom immediately after getting off the ship. These were great add-ons to our trip!

Castaway Cay was very peaceful. I couldn’t believe how calm and clear the water was! If you like to snorkel, there is a great area for that. Most of our group did the 5K and earned a medal. Finch and I stayed as late as possible and had the entire beach to ourselves at the end!

Lookout Cay was gorgeous. It opened in June 2024 so we were one of the first cruises to sail there. The nature hike was my favorite part of the entire trip. If I had to pick just one of Disney’s port of call, this would be it. Amazing views!

On Christmas Day, we spent the day at sea. The waters were calm and I could barely tell we were moving. We rode the AquaDuck waterslide; watched the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade, read, and sun-bathed by the pools; and went to the Silent Disco.

The Disney Fantasy is more than three football fields long and can hold 4,000 passengers plus ~1,500 Cast Members. Isn’t that wild?! And yet it never once felt too crowded. We stayed in a Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah on Deck 10. We had a double bed, a couch that turned into a bed, and a bunk bed that came down from the ceiling. We didn’t use the balcony a lot, but it was very nice to have! I liked having port side views!

I suffer from motion sickness and was very sensitive to the motion on the ship. On our first night, the ship was rocking side to side and I had to go straight to bed and miss our dinner and show that evening. Thankfully, that was the worst it got, but it wasn’t a fun experience.

Because of my motion sickness, and not being able to predict the seas, cruising would not be my preferred travel option in the future. It was a fun experience, but I would rather go to the Disney Parks or an all-inclusive resort with a beach. However, I do think a cruise would be a great way to travel if you are visiting a lot of different countries. That way you can relax while you go from port to port, rather than flying, driving, or taking a train.

Have you been on a Disney Cruise?