Star Wars Day at Sea on Disney Cruise Line

Amy Baranek12.11.18My family and I were lucky enough to embark on our first Disney family cruise during spring break, and how great for this Star Wars loving family that we were able to incorporate a themed cruise with a day devoted entirely to Star Wars!A few quick notes for anyone wondering how this works: Currently, Star Wars themed cruises are offered select dates January-March on the Disney Fantasy. These are all 7-night cruises which rotate with one week being an Eastern Caribbean and one a Western. You get all the same enjoyments of a regular cruise, including Pirate Night at Sea, BUT on one of your sea days you have a day completely devoted to Star Wars! When you first board the ship and enter into the lobby, you are reminded that you are on a Star Wars cruise with a giant Star Wars Day at sea sign that you can stop and have your picture taken at, however, do know that this will be here the entire boat ride, so if you would like to go explore the ship, you can stop by anytime during your cruise and have your family’s picture taken here. You will also find a fun Star Wars display - we had a real Star Wars speeders that you could get your picture taken by!Let’s talk about the Star Wars Day at Sea so you know what to expect! Prior to the actual Star Wars day, the rest of your cruise is pretty typical, more people in Star Wars shirts but pretty normal otherwise. The day you arrive, you will find in your room a selection card where they want you to rank your choices from 1-5. You are guaranteed 2 experiences and if they can squeeze in a third they will. The night before your Star Wars day at Sea, after 10pm, there was an unofficial arrival from a galaxy far, far away in the lobby. This was not in the navigator that is left in your room every night with the day’s schedule and we only learned about it by speaking with a cast member. As we were waiting in the lobby, the lights lowered, alarms sounded and the Star Wars music started playing…..you then heard Captain Phasma’s voice and shortly after she appeared along with several First Order troopers. They started inspecting the ship for about 10 minutes working through the crowd for any rebel spies, which allowed for many fun encounters and interrogations. Satisfied the area was clear, they departed leaving us incredibly geeked for the next day!It’s Star Wars day! The night prior we received our times for our selected Star Wars activities. My boys are big fans of the dark side, so our scheduled meet and greets consisted of Kylo Ren and Darth Vader. A side note here is that if you speak to the cast members, they will very likely tell you where the other meet and greet locations are. You can go speak with the person overseeing meet and greets and ask if they might happen to have an opening at some time to get you in. The droid meet and greet cast member was very helpful, but as we learned about this trick later in the day, the only time available was when we had plans to see something else. When we stopped at the Chewbacca meet and greet to ask about a time, the answer was no (I think the beloved Wookie is quite popular!) I also found this to be true for the padawan training challenge where the younger kids get to train and fight the dark side; I saw many people being put on a wait list. Moral of the story, if you want to sneak in an additional meet and greet time, ask early in the day for a better chance!Here’s a quick overview of how the day works. You have your top 2 scheduled meet times, which you receive the night before. The rest of the day it is all Star Wars - from animation classes, to crafts, scavenger hunts, races and characters constantly roaming the lobby (my favorite). They also have deck patrol with Storm Troopers/First Order troopers patrolling the pool and running decks, looking for any rebel spies. Every cruise there is a special Star Wars speaker, someone intimately involved in the Star Wars universe who speaks about how they are connected and what their role is. There is Star Wars Trivia, costume contests, dance parties and at the end of the evening a Star Wars show ending with an amazing fireworks display! And if you are hungry after all that, stop by Cabanas for a special late night Star Wars buffet!I felt the need to maximize this day as much as possible; we were all in our Star Wars gear, my son dressed as Kylo Ren carrying a light saber, my older son carrying his light saber and me in my light saber skirt, AT-AT sweater and Star Wars Mickey ears. From the moment you step out of your room, you start hearing the Star Wars music playing and are super excited for the day to begin! We had a Kylo Ren meet and greet first thing, so we headed there first. After our intimidating meet and greet we had some time to spare and one of the things on my list was a latte with a Star Wars design on top, so we headed to the lobby and WOW was there a lot going on! We entered the lobby to find Jawas roaming around and everyone was trying to trade shiny objects with them. There were other passengers dressed in costume - including an amazing part of the Mos Eisley Cantina band. As we looked outside we saw First Order troopers patrolling the running deck, my husband and boys headed outside to watch them, at which point my husband was immediately interrogated by them, demanding identification and being told that “no one is above suspicion” (he was wearing an Imperial logo shirt). After showing them his ID (lanyard with his key card) and answering a few questions he was told to “move along.”Next on the agenda was an animation class where we all rendered our best Yoda effort. Really, I’m a horrible artist, but you could at least tell it was Yoda when you were done, so that’s saying something! A quick run back to the lobby because I was stalking Ahsoka as I really wanted a picture with her. As I was searching for her from the balcony, I looked over and Zam Wesell the bounty hunter was standing next to me, surveying the area as well. I was pretty excited and she graciously allowed me a picture with her. As we were heading to the elevators to head up for lunch, we came across some First Order troopers who after being sure we weren’t rebels, allowed us to take a picture with them. At lunch we found many Star Wars themed treats, adding to the fun of the day. I stopped and ran out to the pool deck because I wanted to hear the Star Wars horn which they were playing every hour. After we finished lunch, we stopped by the lobby again (looking for Ahsoka), we stopped for a picture with some Imperial Guards (but no Ahsoka).On to the special guest speaker, Pablo Hidalgo, full disclosure here, I had no idea who he was, but he was big in the Star Wars world and I wanted to hear him speak. My boys weren’t that excited to go as they had no idea what to expect either. We arrived a little early and were surprised to find a great seat. Pablo was funny, energetic and a great speaker who happens to have the best job ever for a Star Wars fan. Have you ever seen those Star Wars books that have pictures and descriptions for every character in that Star Wars movie? He is the one who writes the back stories, includes the details from the movie and insures that everything matches up throughout the Star Wars universe. He is consulted with on movies and more to be sure that all stories are being kept true within the Star Wars world. Now whenever we see one of his giant Star Wars books, my boys say, “There’s another Pablo Hidalgo book.” After this, it was about time for our Darth Vader meet and greet, we started to head towards the area but decided to take a quick look in the lobby for my eternal Ahsoka hunt and was so happy to see that she had just came out….I was super giddy to finally get my picture with her-which my boys still tease me about, but hey, this cruise isn’t just for kids! On to Darth Vader who quickly talked my youngest into joining the Dark Side (should I be scared at how willingly he went?).We had some time before dinner, so we went around to the photographers, the boys with their light sabers and got some fun Star Wars themed pictures together and separate with them. Time for dinner, which was all Star Wars themed; Bantha Steak Empanadas, Grilled Bounty Hunter Fish Filet, and Han Solo’s Frozen Carbonite Sundae were just some of the options; and of course, the servers were all in Star Wars outfits as well. We headed up to find a good spot to view the Star Wars show and fireworks, and found a pretty amazing spot for good views of everything on Deck 12. The show was great, with music and Star Wars characters (including my favorite, Darth Maul) and then the whole thing ended with an amazing fireworks show set to Star Wars music. At the end of the show, Cabanas was all set for an amazing late night buffet-the perfect end to an incredible day!If you ever have the opportunity to take a themed cruise like this, I highly recommend it! The energy and excitement from everyone on the boat is incredible! While we were waiting for the evening Star Wars show and fireworks to begin, my boys were down one deck below light saber fighting with new found Jedi friends. So many people dressed to impress with amazing outfits and costumes and it was so much fun to see the enthusiasm. At the end of the evening we came back to a window cling on our mirror saying “The force is strong on this ship” and a bantha towel animal. The only problem is I had to talk the family into trying something else other than a Star Wars themed cruise as they can’t imagine a better cruise then this one!If you are considering a Disney cruise, I’d love to answer your questions! Feel free to email me or visit my Facebook page for more pictures and a few videos! Know that you will make unforgettable family memories that will last a lifetime!