Disney Cruise Tips: Halloween on the High Seas

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Halloween on the High Seas can be summed up in two words. Amazing Cruise!

As a family who’s never done a cruise together (I’ve done one before kids, on another cruise line before children) I has hesitant that my family wouldn’t like the cruise. The idea of being on a ship with thousands of people didn’t seem like a vacation that was on the top of my list.

Thanks to the amazing job done by the Disney advertising agency ;), my kids have been begging to go on a Disney cruise for quite some time.

Since we vacation each year to Disney, I thought it would be the perfect year to add a quick Disney cruise to our itinerary. My kids were ages 1, 5, and 7 at the time of cruising.
I found the Halloween on the High seas 4 day/3 night cruise and booked it! It was short enough to experience a cruise, and long enough to enjoy a few days on the sea!

From start to finish the entire experience was seem-less.

When you board the ship, they “announce” your family as they walk onto the ship.

Next you’re free to roam the ship until your room is ready. We boarded the ship right at 11am and headed straight to lunch. (The ship didn’t leave dock until around 4pm)

Some people headed straight to the pool and slides – if you are going to do this be sure to pack your swim gear in a carry on bag. When you board the ship you drop off all your baggage at the curb. Disney will ship you tags to have ready when you arrive. Once you drop off your checked bags, you’re free to park your car and head to the boarding line.

Tip 1: Bring a carry on bag with 4-5 hours with of gear you may need. Think swimsuits, changes of clothes, baby supplies etc.

After lunch we wondered around the ship to explore our home for the weekend. We found the scavenger hunt Detective game and immediately signed up for it. The kids absolutely loved working on that game during our down time on the ship. Or if we happen to walk by a check point! I highly recommend signing up and doing it!

We made sure to join the party on the main deck once the cruise headed out to sea. I recommend arriving early! That area can get packed!

Next we headed back to our rooms again to unpack and wind down a bit. This was the ONE thing I love the most about cruising with little kids. The ability to go back to your room easily and rest! While I absolutely love going to the Disney parks, when you or your child is tired you know you have a good 45 minutes ahead of you before you’re back in your room to rest. Not on a cruise! It was awesome.

Each night we dined at a different restaurant and were able to see how unique each was.

Tip 2: If you look at the bottom of your “Key to the world card” it has letters listed in order. These are the names of the restaurants on your ship and also a list of the order in which you will visit them.

Be sure to attend the nightly entertainment broadway style performances. They were SO well done and overall amazing to watch. My 1 year old NEVER sits though a movie, but he sat though each performance! (We did all 3). Even if musicals are not your thing, go experience them! You won’t regret it.

PACKING:

Our cruise had a pirates night (I actually think most do) that also was a Halloween costume dress up night. I originally thought there was a pirate party and then a separate halloween party. It’s ALL in one night. So either dress up like a pirate or dress up for halloween. We chose a fun family theme (Hocus Pocus) and dressed up to go trick or treating around the lower level, attend the halloween dance party. (Where your kids can dance with all their favorite characters) and head to the deck for fireworks, ghost stories and more dancing.

It was by far the best night on a vacation I can remember. We all had so much fun!

Tip 3: Pack either a pirate costume or halloween costumes for the party! Disney does leave Pirate Mickey handkerchief’s in your room, so if you happen to forget you will still have pirate hats!

Other packing tips: bring extra swim suits, walking shoes, and flip flops for beach and deck days. Also be sure to pack a room night light if your kids like a little light. There are overhead lights but they felt too bright for my kids.

Did you feel sick?

I’ve had a lot of people ask this. I’m a person that gets sick when you read in the car or look down at your phone too long in the car. But…I can ride a rollercoaster and be absolutely fine! So I was worried at the possibility of getting sea sick. While we had very calm seas, I did feel the boat sway when we were in large rooms like the theatre. It never made me feel sick though. I did bring less-drowsy Dramamine just in case. I took it each night and it lasted for 24 hours. I had no issues and neither did my children with this! (Bring meds just to be safe)

Door Decorating

This is a must, and something I didn’t know about until I starting researching Cruise Tips! Bring magnets to decorate your door! (No stickers…just magnetic items). People really have fun with the decorating and go all out. I found some cheap options at Hobby lobby for Halloween like decor. They were supposed to be a sturdy wall cling. Instead I just cut them out and hot glued magnets to the back of them.

We had a really cute door and it was less then $10 to decorate! Have fun with it and bring decorations!

Planning

Before you even go on your cruise, you have a window to plan your cruise activities. Use the phone app for the Disney cruise line to monitor when it’s time to book your events. When it’s time, book everything you want to do that day! Including the nursery time!

Tip 4: Book early and plan your events including nursery time, bippity boppity boutique, drink tastings, character meet and greets and more!

Cruise Membership Levels

Once you’ve done one Disney cruise, you’re now able to book any your activities a day sooner then 1st time cruisers. And you’re not a Disney cruise member!

The 3 membership levels are based upon the total number of completed eligible cruises:

Silver Castaway – 1 completed cruise.
Gold Castaway – 5 completed cruises.
Platinum Castaway – 10 completed cruises.

If you loved your cruise (like we did) Disney offers a “bounce back” offer in which you can put down a refundable deposit on the ship, and get a discount on your next cruise. We did this and got a 10% discount on our next cruise which you have to use within two years!