My Journey on the Disney Destiny!

My family recently sailed on the new Disney Destiny! This is the third ship in the Wish class (joining the Wish and the Treasure). The Destiny is themed to Heroes and Villains, and while I wasn’t sure that would be my vibe, I was pleasantly surprised that it was!

We did a 4 night Bahamian sailing out of Fort Lauderdale, FL making stops at Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point and Disney’s Castaway Cay. We had a day at sea before returning to Fort Lauderdale to disembark. The main issue for us was this sailing was way too short. I felt like we just got our groove and it was time to get off the ship. There were things we didn’t get to explore. Shows we didn’t get to see. Activities we never had time to do. And most importantly, we didn’t have quite nearly enough time to relax on lounge chairs.

Spoiler alert, we loved this cruise so much we booked a placeholder for a discount on another cruise within the next two years. So what made us love our time onboard the Disney Destiny? It was just so easy! Want a snack, get one. Need a drink, there’s a million spots to fill a cup or get a specialty beverage. Need something to do? There are so many activities, shows, movies, pools, games, and characters around at all times. Want to relax? Where? Your verandah? The Pool Deck? The Adult only coffee shop or lounge areas? There are so many places to hang out and do literally nothing if you want to. Something for everyone at all times!

We booked a Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah. This could sleep up to 5 people with a Queen bed, single pull down bed, and two pull down bunk beds. This was a perfect amount of space for us to spread out and not feel on top of each other. The room was narrow but long. I LOVED having the verandah and being able to sit out there while everyone was still sleeping. The bed was super comfortable and the kids seemed to be perfectly comfortable in the bunk beds. For reference my son is about 5’7'“ and fit fine on the bottom bunk, just in case you are traveling with multiple adults.

I unfortunately didn’t take a ton of pictures of our room layout. But! I did post a quick room tour on Instagram recently, so please give that a watch to see more of room! We were on deck 8 in room 8128 (with a bump out verandah to give us even a little more space!)

Here’s our room (8128) on the Deck Plans so you can see what the “bump out” means. We loved it!

Here’s a rundown of each day on the cruise.

Day 1 - Embarkation Day

We got to the terminal around noon for our 1pm Port Arrival Time. They say not to get there that early but everything moved swiftly and we were onboard prior to our 1pm Port Arrival Time, so make of that what you will. The port staff was so efficient and helpful and it was super easy to navigate.
Exploring the ship was so fun, but also a bit overwhelming. There is so much to see and do. Embarkation day was a bit PEOPLE-Y for me, but the rest of the voyage was pretty spread out. There are ways to avoid the crowds, but being a new ship I was also too excited to not run around looking at everything. I was also VERY emotional to finally be onboard.
Lunch at Marceline Market was great and instantly sealed this as the “best vacation ever” for Sebastian. Get a teen boy an all you can eat buffet and you are good to go. We hadn’t even left the dock yet. Also, note that there is a whole line of options that repeat on the other side so don’t stop at the first thing you see - the kids thought the first counter was it and Lyra had just rolls on her plate until I showed her the chicken fingers and fries. “WAIT WHAT?!” lol. I think I giggled the entire trip.
The muster drill was at 3:30pm and we had our station in the 1923 restaurant. Disney does this a little differently than other ships. You have to be there in person and they can’t start until everyone is there, so don’t be late! A lot of ships have moved to a more virtual option for this and you watch a video and then check in at your station once onboard. I did read that Disney still does this in person to make sure kids know where to go and what to do in an emergency and I really liked that. The sound is brief but loud, I would definitely bring headphones or ear protection for little ones or anyone sensitive to loud noise. Lyra is very sensitive to that and we just had her plug her ears and it was okay. You get a very clear warning before the sound.
After that everyone on the whole ship will head to the pool deck for the Sail Away Party. It didn’t start until 4:20pm so we stopped by the room for a moment to grab something and that was maybe ill timed. We ran into our stateroom host John who was an absolute doll. We started talking to him about our preferences and I did not want to rush him so we ended up late for the Sail Away Party, which was a bummer.
We explored the ship more until it was time for dinner. This night we ate at Worlds of Marvel. This was my least favorite of the three rotational dining experiences onboard. Maybe it was because we were tired or overwhelmed but the Marvel trivia that is played at the table just had the kids fighting over who could press the button first and the food was not great. My chicken was so bland and my appetizer was blah. The desserts were pretty good and Lyra liked the kids menu corn dog option.
After that the kids and Mitch went to the pools and rode the AquaMouse (apparently a number of times due to basically no line) and I got a little unpacked and settled into the room before taking myself to the Seas The Adventure stage show in the Walt Disney Theater. It was wonderful and so cute and fun!

I’m told I was not throwing the web correctly.

Day 2 - Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point!

Started the day waking up before the sun and taking myself out on the verandah to watch the sunrise. It was amazing! I then ventured up to the adult only deck to head to Cove Cafe for a specialty coffee - these are not included in the cruise fare and ran about $8 each - worth it in my opinion. The cafe was so pretty and the whole vibe up there was peaceful and calm before everyone woke up. They open at 6am while the other dining options didn’t open until around 7am or later.
After that I went back to the room and Sebastian was awake. We watched them dock at Lookout Cay which was so cool. Then we grabbed breakfast while Lyra and Mitch slept. I went back up to grab breakfast once Lyra was awake and we brought some food back to the room for Mitch. We eventually got off the ship onto the island around 10:30am. It took about 30 minutes to walk from the ship (stopped to get a photo) and then take the tram to the main part of the island.
We were not on the island for very long, but it wasn’t my favorite. The beach was packed (understandably), we found seats but they were kind of behind a dune so I couldn’t see the kids in the water - which was okay since they are strong swimmers, but if they were younger we would have had to take turns. The walk to any food or drink was kind of a lot - I just wanted a soda and it took me like 20 minutes to figure it all out. The first machine was broken - which for a brand new island location seemed odd. Also the bathroom (is there more than one? because we only found one) was absolutely disgusting. Like, I’ve been in some dive bars in my day and this was so bad I almost held it the whole way back to the ship. Definitely don’t go in barefoot.
We headed back to the ship around 1pm. We had a wardrobe malfunction with a bathing suit and nothing to change into and the mood shifted enough that it wasn’t worth hanging around. Back to the ship we went! I will give this spot another chance if we head back on a future sailing.
The absolute highlight was the Junkanoo Celebration. That was amazing and I saw it while trying to go to the bathroom and didn’t have my phone so have zero photos or videos LOL it was a day.
We got cleaned up and turned our moods around and got lunch at Mickey’s Festival of Foods! I really loved this area. It had great choices and I never got to Donald’s Cantina so I need to hit that up next cruise. The unlimited soft serve was a family favorite and this day Blueberry was the flavor of the day and it was great.
The kids went and did their own thing for awhile. Lyra kind of hopped in and out of the Oceaneers Club this cruise. She said most of the kids were younger than her (she’s 10 so this would be her last year in this club). But she had fun. She could sign herself in and out which was nice. Sebastian refused to go to the ice breakers or get to know you events at Edge and then only went there one time for a video game competition that he didn’t even play in. He pretty much hung out with us the whole time. That was a shock to me, but he had fun playing the Haunted Mansion game with his MagicBand around the ship and just having the ability to explore on his own was pretty cool.
Mitch and I got coffees at Cafe Megara and caught a show in the Grand Hall with the Storytellers Zayah and Gamble about Princess Tiana. It was so good. Then we happened to be in the right place to meet Minnie Mouse!
That night was dinner at Pride Lands Feast of the Lion King and this was my favorite of the rotational dining onboard. The music was amazing and the performers were phenomenal. It basically took my favorite Animal Kingdom Show - Festival of the Lion King, and put it inside my favorite Resort Animal Kingdom Lodge, and served me food from Sanaa. I got the shrimp curry on a recommendation and it was DELICIOUS! A++!
After dinner we all went to see the Frozen stage show at the Walt Disney Theater. It was wonderful and Lyra was so into it which was lovely since she was a HUGE Frozen fan when she was younger and has been kind of anti-princess as of late. Her and I have seen the Broadway version and this was similar with some amazing puppetry. Must see in my opinion. That’s it for Day 2!

Day 3 - Castaway Cay & Pirate Night!

The day started with breakfast at Marceline Market. We sat outside this time and it was very nice to overlook Castaway Cay while eating.
We got ourselves together and got off the ship around 10am. I loved stepping off onto the island. This is such an easy port stop with everything right there. We headed over to the beach to get our rented snorkel equipment. The people working at the stand were not at all friendly and we were told there would be brief instruction, but there was none. They just handed us the stuff and that was it. The equipment was fine, but not in the best shape and my mask kept fogging up and filling with water (possibly user error since I’ve never done this before). Lyra bailed on snorkeling pretty much immediately because she was uncomfortable and just hung out in the water/near the beach. Sebastian switched to a regular life jacket and then was good to go. Mitch loved the experience and swam all the way out to sunken pirate ship. I went about half way but it was really difficult for me - need to get into better swimming shape for next time. It was VERY cool to find the items they have sunk underwater and if you’re a solid swimmer this would be perfect - maybe bring your own snorkel gear.
After that Mitch and I explored the island a little bit while the kids swam and then we all went to get lunch at Cookie’s Too! Food was good, Lyra wasn’t a big fan since she’s a pretty picky eater, but soft serve was available! (at this point I’m not sure what our soft serve tally was up to). We poked around and did a little shopping before heading back to the ship around 1:30pm. Again not a long day on the island, but we wanted to ride the AquaMouse without too much of a wait (it actually went down right as we got in the line for a bit, so wait was a little longer at about 20mins), and get washed up to check out Haunted Mansion Parlor before dinner!
I loved the Haunted Mansion Parlor. We don’t drink alcohol, but the mocktails were fun and the atmosphere was phenomenal. I’m also a big Rolly Crump fan so seeing the bust dedicated to him was so cool and we sat right near it. Would definitely come back to this on future sailings.

From there we got into our pirate gear and got some photos with Chip and Dale (this was a Mom must-do and my family humored me). We also got some awesome shots in the lobby before dinner. Then we headed back to Pride Lands for our dinner with the Pirate themed menu. I had heard a lot of bad feedback about the Pirate night meals, but we actually really liked everything we had.
Right as we were getting ready for dinner is when we were informed that our flight home on Monday was canceled due to the storm at home and was rebooked for Friday. I was pretty stressed out about it and had to take some time to juggle all of that while also trying to enjoy our trip. I wish that hadn’t happened but this is part of travel sometimes. Glad I had friends and co-workers helping us behind the scenes to make arrangements. Even a TA needs a TA sometimes!
After dinner Lyra went to the kids club - they were having a dance party and Mitch, Sebastian and I checked out The Sanctum Lounge for a post dinner mocktail. They were doing a drawing lesson in there so that was fun to watch and our mocktails were pretty good.
Lyra met up with us after that and we headed up to deck 12 to grab a spot for the Pirate Parlay Party and fireworks around 9:45pm. We had the perfect spot to see everything and Sebastian went and got snacks and drinks for everyone while we waited for it to start.
The performance was super fun and a great way to end the night. This was honestly my favorite day of the whole trip (travel interruption stress excluded)!

Arrrrgh! We see some scallywags up on the poop deck!

Day 4 - A Day at Sea - Our final full day.

Sebastian and I are the early risers in the family. We let Mitch and Lyra sleep in (they completely missed breakfast time) and we went to get Churro Mickey Waffles! On the last full day of any Disney Cruise you will find this special treat up at the buffet. You’re legally obligated to get them at least once.
After breakfast we played more of the Haunted Mansion game - Sebastian completed it but I guess you can play again and get some different variations of ghosts. So that’s fun! I didn’t quite complete my quest, but I really liked how there were clues hidden in places you wouldn’t even notice if you were just walking by. Very cool.
After that we headed down to the kids club to meet SpiderMan! The kids club is pretty closed off to everyone except for open house times and certain areas for these meet and greets.
Then we went back to the room and Lyra and Mitch were finally stirring.
Mitch and I went down to the Royal Gathering where you can meet with multiple Princesses in a row. Very efficient without feeling rushed and you can sign up for this for FREE on your Online Check in day at 30 days prior to sailing. If Princesses are top priority for you I would highly recommend signing up right at midnight on that 30 day mark. This does fill up quickly. If you don’t get it, or aren’t a die hard Princess fan, there are plenty of opportunities to meet with characters around the ship at other times. Don’t stress it! We got to meet with Rapunzel, Tiana, Belle and Moana.
Then we grabbed some lunch down at Mickey’s Festival of Foods and brought some food back to the room for the kids.
The kids were pretty tuckered out and wanted to just chill in the room (much to our room attendant John’s chagrin lol). So we let them and Mitch went up to relax on the adults deck (which was quite busy) and I went to pop in some laundry since our stay in Florida was looking to be extended. The laundry room was great! Plenty of machines even on a busy day and the DCL app will let you know when your machines start and stop so you can go do other things without worrying. I joined Mitch for a bit in between washing and drying.
We hung out until about 2pm and then had to get ready for dinner and pack up our suitcases so we could grab a drink at the Cask & Cannon bar themed to Pirates of the Caribbean! This is also a sports bar so they had that on the tvs in there. It was pretty empty in there so that was nice but would definitley come back to try the food on a longer sailing. We just got some mocktails and then explored the ship some more.
We stumbled upon a show in the Grand Hall - Celebration of a King. It was set to be a celebration of King T’Challa (Black Panther) but Loki takes over and the crowd has to honor him with a song and dance. It was so fun and don’t worry good won in the end with Black Panther arriving to take back his throne! These types of shows happen all the time and it was so fun when we caught them, but with so much to do at any given moment I felt like we were always trying to choose what we wanted to do the most. We will just have to come back.
After that I got Mitch to take some pictures with me in the Grand Hall - Each night before dinner they had photographers and backdrops where you could get photos done. My one regret is not getting a picture of all of us at the Grand Staircase, so that’s a high priority for me next cruise.
Then it was dinner time at 1923! This restaurant is all about the animation and art of Disney movies in a very New York Steakhouse vibe restaurant. The boys got steaks and I got roasted chicken, which was fine. I think Lyra got the pizza option almost every night. Other than Pride Lands I found the dinner food to be pretty bland. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything special either.
Post dinner Mitch and the kids went to put out our suitcases. If you don’t want to carry them off the ship yourselves they ask that you put them out tagged (they will give you tags) before 10pm. They also got a glimpse of our towel animal for the night - which was a doozy. Then they went to get milkshakes at the sweets shop (additional cost) while I did a little shopping for myself and got in line VERY early for Hercules! We were told that this show was so popular that even with a 1pm and 6:30pm show that ours at 8:30 would fill up. I didn’t want to chance it. I was the third person in line at 7:40pm. They let us in a little before 8:15pm.
The Hercules show was PHENOMENAL! If you can only go to one show on this sailing, this is it. We also apparently saw the last show of the original cast! Which WOW they knocked it out of the park. My kids have never seen the Hercules movie (I know, parenting fail) and they also loved it and Lyra immediately put on the movie in our stateroom when we got back.

The final doozy of a towel animal (person?)

Day 5 - It’s all over. They are making us get off the ship.

It was nearly impossible to get Lyra up and out of the room for breakfast. Since we had early dinner we had early breakfast (another reason to choose late dining next time) at 6:30am back at 1923 (where you had dinner the night before). A slightly different breakfast menu with waffles that are NOT Mickey shaped?! and regular breakfast fare like eggs, sausage, bacon, etc.
The restaurant was pretty empty so we took some time to check out all the art we didn’t see the night before, and then we went to grab a final specialty latte before they called our luggage tags to disembark. We really tried to drag our heels here, but the inevitable happened anyway and the cruise was done.
Our adventures were not, but that’s another story for another time.

This cruise was absolutely wonderful. The ship is stunning and the staff and entertainment is above and beyond what I was expecting. It’s so hard to come home and not have a cherry coke waiting for me at dinner or a fun towel animal on my bed each night. We can’t wait to get back on board and looking for a longer sailing next time to really take our time exploring everything Disney Cruise Line has to offer.

If you have any questions about our trip, the Disney Destiny, or Disney Cruise Line in general, please reach out! I’d be happy to answer them and help you get onboard one of these amazing ships yourself!

xo - Molly

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